Left to Suffer: Unwelcome Guest
It’s a satisfying phenomenon when critics and detractors alike push bands to the brink of their patience, with rage-baiting leading to different responses. Some ignore it and double down on their sonic choices and decisions. Others take the more brutalist and vengeful route, creating some of the best comebacks in the industry by fuelling their response in silence while building an aggressive, unadulterated return. Left to Suffer takes both options and melts them into a single nuclear statement – a pure anger and foreboding thrill ride that never relents, reminiscent of a slasher icon on the prowl. The kinetic energy is the equivalent of dry-scooping pre-workout while shotgunning an energy drink, reaching borderline levels of cardiac arrest and aggression.
Chambering the first round is the simply titled ‘Track One’, which implodes into a heavy deathcore breakdown. The intro plants its feet firmly in the band’s deathcore roots while announcing itself with the zero fucks given attitude they have been bottling up.
Teter Higgs and Jacob Gordon tear through guitar chords from the abyss, alongside Christian Nowatzki on bass, setting the foreboding tone. Taylor Barber’s guttural vocals are on full display, showing definite growth from the band’s first album outing as his vocals sound deeper and more sustained. It would be a disservice not to mention Alex Vavra on drums, providing some of the album’s most rapid and heavy fills. The snare sounds like it’s coming from Mars as he provides the aggressive infrastructure holding the entire album together.
‘Track One’ blends into ‘Therapy’, where the tempo increases and so does the assault. Visceral and aggressive in nature, the constant themes of rage and dissatisfaction continue while maintaining the oppressive atmosphere through instrumental passages and some of the album’s best deathcore fills. The breakdown and haywire guitar chords following one of the many “motherfucker” moments are intense and seem destined to become a crowd pleaser for the moshing masses. Adding a flashbang-like audio effect to disorientate the listener before a breakdown switch up is the cherry on top of the ongoing assault.
Recent singles ‘Gun in a Dufflebag’ and ‘STFU’ maintain the same commentary and momentum. ‘Gun in a Dufflebag’ doubles down on the forbidden sonic design that matches its weaponized landscape. From its early rifle chambering audio leading into the foreboding lyrical implications, the song stands as one of the album’s strongest cuts. Electronic elements elevate the drum track as the mid-song reload breakdown chambers another round into the listener. The cut out vocals leading into yet another breakdown easily leave you wanting more.
‘STFU’, on the other hand, directs its aggression immediately toward critics and detractors while combining elements of nu-metal and rap metal. It’s pure, unbridled rage – a middle finger to anyone willing to throw criticism their way.
Tracks like ‘WRONG NUMBER’, the recently released title track ‘Unwelcomed Guest’ and ‘Unrequited Dread’ double down on the intensity unleashing rounds of brutal double-pedal breakdowns. The essence of deathcore is in full display during ‘Unwelcomed Guest’ lyrically challenging both detractors and the listener with a simple, brutal question: “You are the prey in the dead of night I need to know, I need to know, are you scared yet?”
The addition of Alan Grnja of DISTANT on ‘WRONG NUMBER’ provides a contrast between deep, bass heavy deathcore vocals and high-pitched squeals while maintaining the same level of aggression.
Stand out track is ‘404’, a tonal shift that pulls from early-2000s deathcore with record scratching elements and a sample of LL Cool J’s ‘Mama Said Knock You Out’. Incredibly catchy and infused with hip-hop and the brutality of deathcore, it invokes instrumental nostalgia while maintaining the album’s aggression. Its uptempo rhythm is enough to make anyone two-step and bounce.
Left to Suffer caters to the foundations of deathcore while injecting enough genre fusion to create an entryway into the scene’s more aggressive and passionate sonic soundscape. The band understood the assignment and readied its response perfectly. Unwelcomed Guest is a loaded rifle of authentic deathcore with a few magazines of genre fusion to spare aimed directly at the opposing voices of the scene. Check out the entire album on 9 October.