Album Review

Beartooth – Disgusting

• 9th Jun 2014

The aptly titled “Disgusting” is the debut album released via Red Bull Records from American metalcore band Beartooth.

Fans of the primary wave of metalcore bands – with the genre heavyweights such as As I Lay Dying, Killswitch Engage, At The Gates, All That Remains taking the reins – will always find it hard to accept any of the current new wave of metalcore bands being anything other than a fad, or something you’re likely to hear at 4am at an alternative club night in between the Last Resort/Umbrella remix whilst you search for your dignity through the Strongbow cans and mounds of human flesh.

However, one band name that kept resurfacing was Attack, Attack! along with the assertion that Beartooth was the new “more mature” project of the former AA front-man Caleb Shomo, making this record an intriguing prospect.

We honestly tried to give this record a chance but we’re not going to hold back, it bothered us from the get go. First of all – the production of this record isn’t great (maybe this was deliberate so that it fits with the records title?). It’s rather rough on the ears and not in a raw punk way, it’s way too polished for that.

Other than that, the album is 12 tracks of mediocre standard metalcore riffs with breakdowns that a 14 year old kid could’ve composed thrown in every 4 bars for good measure, followed by choruses that are so “other end of the world” pop they sound like you’ve suddenly pressed shuffle and a Hellogoodbye record has come on. The worst part of this is that the lyrical content is so embarrassingly average and predictable for the most part, save a few standout lines that are quite clever. The worst example of this is the absolutely putrid chorus in “In Between.”

Bands like Beartooth should be celebrated for their attempts to create multiple sounds within their genre, BUT not every song needs it. Some of the harder hitting songs on the record such as “Beaten In Lips” & “Relapsing” aren’t actually all that bad, but the drastic change in feeling and mood that the songs undergo when the band jump to the extremely poppy choruses is what ruins them as decent metal tracks – that being said, the 2:16 long “Dead” is easily the best track on this record.

In retrospect, Beartooth and their new record will probably do well because of the singer’s past musical endeavours as well as the typical fanbase they will attract, but realistically there are far better bands doing this type of music with more passion, style, finesse and most of all – effect and purpose.

Not one to watch for us.

Venue: Disgusting
Support Band: Red Bull Records