Hollow Front - Loose Threads (2020)

Independent release, June 19, 2020

Tracklist

1. Afflicted

2. Nameless

3. Loose Threads

4. Left Behind

5. Vagabond

6. Wishful Thinking

7. Falling Apart
8. P.A.N.I.C.
9. Ghosted
10. The Itch
11. Serendipity

Hollow Front is an independent Michigan-based metalcore band. Their debut full-length, Hollow Threads, is their first release in two years, following an EP called Still Life which was put out on local label Beckwith Records. This group plays a style of metalcore in the vein of bands like Invent Animate, Wage War or Fit For a King that occasionally veers into a heavier direction.  The atmospheric opener "Afflicted" belies Hollow Front's aggressive side, as this track is actually much more melodic than the rest of the album. "Afflicted" is a clear highlight which shows the band's strengths right away.  Also appearing early on, the title track follows a similar direction, again emphasizing guitarist Dakota Alvarez's clean vocals in the beginning before the heavy sections that come later.  Both of these tracks retain a nice back-and-forth dynamic between the cleans and Tyler Tate's harsh vocals.  Dakota Alvarez's vocals are underutilized in this album and I would have liked to hear more from him.  He's got a great voice and deserves to be prominent on more than just two out of eleven tracks.

The band shows a few different sides to their sound.  While the two most melodic tracks show up at the start of the album, the most aggressive ones appear towards the end.  Tracks nine and ten, "Ghosted" and "The Itch", are the heaviest songs.  Both are intense, breakdown-heavy and cross over into deathcore territory.   Elsewhere, Loose Threads has an inclination for incorporating keyboards into heavy tracks. "Nameless" and "Falling Apart" use a simple keyboard line for some contrast atop an aggressive sound with vocals that are predominantly screamed.  Here they seem to be going for a similar style as Make Them Suffer's "Widower", and it works for them.  "P.A.N.I.C." also has a brief quiet keyboard section in the middle. 

Loose Threads does show room for growth.  Tracks like "Left Behind" and "Wishful Thinking" are merely average and lack a strong hook or staying power apart from with an interesting guitar line in the opening.  The album's pacing could also be improved as we have a long stretch of similar sounding aggressive metalcore tracks following the first three tracks.  The tracklist is a bit unbalanced and seems to just get heavier and more aggressive as it goes along.  While their sound isn't particularly unique, this is not an issue for a group at such an early stage of their career.  Hollow Front is a promising young band with room to grow and further develop their own identity in the future.   For now, they have a solid debut album to their credit which gets a score of 7/10.