Fever 333 - Strength in Numb333rs (2019)

Roadrunner Records, January 18, 2019

 Tracklist

1. ...

2. Burn It

3. Animal

4. Prey for Me/3/

5. One of Us

6. Inglewood/3
7. The Innocent

8. Out of Control/3

9. Am I Here?

10. Coup D'Etalk

Jason Aalon Butler has made his mark in the influential, now-defunct post-hardcore band letlive., becoming known for his high-energy live performances as much as his frentic vocals. Rapcore act Fever 333, formerly The Fever when formed in July 2017 - about a year after the release of letlive.'s last album If I'm the Devil - introduces him to a new audience. Fever 333 is technically a supergroup since guitarist Stephen Harrison was part of the final lineup of Georgia-based hardcore band The Chariot, and drummer Aric Improta is from the Night Verses. Butler has become known in letlive. for his skill in switching from soul inspired cleans to piercing high screams very quickly. The band's sound is predominantly hardcore punk with hip-hop influences, and some surprises along the way.

After a short intro, the album begins with early single "Burn It", released late in 2018. The next two tracks "Animal" and "Prey For Me/3" are two of the album's stronger songs with a bit of an electronic edge, rapped verses, and great beats. Right in the middle, "Inglewood/3" is a bit of an oddity in the tracklist, sounding like a Yelawolf ballad before a jarring transition to a Scarlxrd screamo rap style near the 4:45 mark. "Am I Here?" is another song that starts off sounding like a radio-friendly ballad. Despite the inclusion of some background harsh vocals, this track offers a rare moment of calm on the album, albeit temporarily. 

Strength in Numb333rs is a political album at its core. In a way it maintains some of the DNA of Butler's former band, as letlive.'s earlier albums were known for their intensity and also delved into socio-political and personal lyrical themes, but in a nuanced and metaphorical fashion. The message and music of Fever 333 is delivered in a far more straightforward manner. For example, letlive.'s "The Fear Fever" had the lines "There's a comfort in being scared/when you're the only one who dared/to make the gunsmoke black in a whitewashed town" discussing racial inequality and biases, but Fever 333 does so far more overtly. And given the bold and unabashed nature of Strength in Numb333rs' sound, the new approach fits the album better than subtlety would have. 

One aspect that strengthens this message of Fever 333 and differentiates it from several political albums is the autobiographical tone it takes. Butler establishes himself as a well-educated eyewitness, which is critical for lyrical content of this nature. He has firsthand experiences growing up biracial in Inglewood, California, a city in the Los Angeles region known for a history of racial segregation. Police brutality, the disproportionate nature of prison system, and discrimination are common themes that are addressed. On a broader scale, themes of unity and empathy - in particular, a call to understand different points of view - are also present. The flow of the album does get disjointed at times, but that's part of what keeps it fun and unpredictable. Take another look before dismissing Strength in Numb333rs as just another political album or new supergroup project. While not perfect, this is a bold, ambitious debut that offers something more than a cookie-cutter take on the rap-rock genre and earns a score of 7.5/10.

Loathe - I Let It In and It Took Everything (2020)

SharpTone Records, February 7, 2020

Tracklist

1. Theme

2. Aggressive Evolution

3. Broken Vision Rhythm

4. Two-Way Mirror

5. 451 Days

6. New Faces In The Dark

7. Red Room

8. Screaming

9. Is It Really You?

10. Gored

11. Heavy Is The Head That Falls With The Weight Of A Thousand Thoughts

12. A Sad Cartoon

13. A Sad Cartoon Reprise

14. I Let It In and It Took Everything...

Based in Liverpool, England, Loathe is making their mark as one of the most multidimensional and interesting up-and-coming bands in the metal scene. Inspired by groups such as Slipknot and Deftones, as well as soundtracks like Silent Hill, the band hybridizes those influences into a punishingly heavy hardcore/djent sound that is not short of melody or experimental elements. I Let It In and It Took Everything is the follow-up to their 2017 album, The Cold Sun. In between, they released two tracks "White Hot" and "Servant and Master" for a split 2018 EP with Holding Absence. Both of those tracks displayed Loathe's songwriting growth and abilities within a short time, and their new full-length album progresses the band even further.

Kadeem France, the band's frontman and vocalist, has plenty of raw power to his voice. His voice complements the dual guitar attack of Erik Bickerstaffe and Connor Sweeney. "Broken Vision Rhythm", "Gored" and "Heavy Is the Head That Falls With the Weight of a Thousand Thoughts" are all-out onslaughts that show just how heavy Loathe can get. The latter track even ventures into black metal territory with its use of blast beats and Kadeem France incorporating a snarling vocal style. Other songs like "Aggressive Evolution" and "New Faces in the Dark" display that signature aggression and cover similar territory to "White Hot" with punishingly heavy sections that give way to ethereal choruses. While Loathe has plenty of ferocity to their sound they also maintain a dark, ethereal undercurrent throughout. Like a well-written horror movie, I Let It In and It Took Everything is full of peaks and valleys, and the moments of calm give the album a chance to breathe and only further accentuate the brutal sections. The four shortest tracks, "Theme", "451 Days", "Red Room", and "A Sad Cartoon (Reprise)" all act as interludes and add cohesion to the album, strengthening it as a whole. "Screaming", "Two-Way Mirror", "Is It Really You?", "A Sad Cartoon", and the closing title track are heavily atmospheric tracks with varying amounts of melody and experimentation. The haunting closer "I Let It In and It Took Everything" brings all of these elements in full circle and is comparable to Slipknot's "Iowa" in its ability to convey a horror film-like soundscape. 

But before we reach that point, it's by the fourth track "Two-Way Mirror" where it becomes clear Loathe is covering new ground. It is the album's softest song and is driven by ethereal, shoegazy vocals in its entirety. Instrumentally, the guitars are restrained in the verses before coming in with a heavy riff in the chorus. The song has been noted for its Deftones influence, and in fact Chino Moreno, Deftones' lead singer, is a fan of the song. Moreno gave the band some additional promotion prior to the album's release, sharing the music video for "Two-Way Mirror" on his personal social media account, as he frequently does to share a wide variety of music he enjoys. "Is It Really You?" is another Deftones-inspired track that feels like Loathe's homage to Koi No Yokan. The song has a truly beautiful chorus and a song structure that ventures out into atmospheric post-metal territory. While many bands in the rock and metal scene claim Sacramento-based band Deftones as an influence, Loathe is doing something special by making that influence part of their own unique entity rather than attempting to clone or recreate an existing sound. 

The song "Two-Way Mirror" asks the question "What would you do if you weren't afraid?" Loathe is a band who is clearly unafraid to experiment and explore the possibilities of heavy music. I Let It In and It Took Everything is an easy early contender for album of the year and earns a score of 9.5/10. As strong as this album is, it may merely be the beginning of Loathe's potential as they show willingness to continue to take their sound even further.