Reviews: A Night In Texas, To The Grave, Untitled With Drums, Dissimulator (GC & Mateusz Stefanow)

A Night In Texas - The Darkest Side Of Humanity (Unique Leader Records) [GC]

Deathcore, death metal and hardcore mixed together, what is not to like? Well, sometimes a whole lot actually! When it’s done right its unrelenting and brutal as you could ever want but when it done wrong it just sounds boring and unnecessary, there really is a fine line between great and total dogshit, I’m a sucker for punishment so I’m about to find out where the latest A Night In Texas release, The Darkest Side Of Humanity fits into the picture!

It starts staggeringly well on Oblivions Dominion an ominous build up explodes into full blown carnage with drums smashing your skull into tiny pieces and guitars stabbing and pounding you in to shapes a human shouldn’t be able to make, you want to throw yourself around and destroy everything within a ten foot radius of you the second this hits, it is intense, brutally heavy and absolutely fucking glorious, one track in and I am sold! 

They have something for a little build up to brace yourself because it’s done again here and when Rot From Within kicks of in every way possible you just need to sit and take it all in, the guitars are punishing and non-stop violence with a side of horribleness for good measure to describe the drummer as inhuman seems unfair but the way they just keep crashing around and all over everything is just unbelievable really and the vocals are just fucking nasty, pure bile and viciousness.

Fed To Death isn’t obviously changing anything or re-writing any rulebooks and do I care? Not one bit, this is how real deathcore sounds, it never stops or slows down, never takes any prisoners and there is absolutely no room for any melody of any sort and honestly more bands should take note of this because its probably one of the best things I have heard this year, UN-FUCKING-BELIEVABLY good! 

The punishment just keeps coming with Metastatic Misery which has a whiff of Soul Of A New Machine Fear Factory thrown in and this is not a slight in anyway, this is a compliment of the highest order, they don’t copy though they evolve and crush the sound and bring it directly into 2026 with such brutal force you almost feels sorry for any other deathcore bands who might want to release an album this year!! 

Evolved From Hate reminds me a little too much of a Whitechapel song, which again isn’t a bad thing in a way but as soon as I saw the title and heard the track I though hang on? Look, its fucking crushing still and pisses on a lot of stuff just needs to vary a little bit more maybe? 

As soon as I come up with one slight issue it is smashed away with When The Sun Burns Out remember that dirty word, I used before, melody? Wel here we have it in bucket loads, the first part is slow and tantalizingly beautiful but obviously this doesn’t last long before were back to business as usual and they also manage to shoehorn the melody back in without compromising the brutality and I’m all for it! 

A Primal Conditioning is a swift and disgusting reminder that when yes, we can do melody and all that type of stuff, but THIS is what we are about, pure, unbridled, disgusting heaviness, don’t like it? Oh well, go listen to Miss May I or whatever metalcore band is popular now! Sometimes if something just constantly pushes one type of sound it could get tedious or boring, not here, it just keeps improving and getting better!

The Chronicles Of Nihilism is just chaos is music form, everything comes at you from a different attack point and all hit at the same time in a wave of blistering savagery that never lets up, once you’re in, you are IN! the manage to drop in some keyboards again here but not in the melodic breakdown way in the background of the beating sort of way another breathtaking track! 

I feel like I am almost out of ways to explain how much I love this record, but then The Infinite Maw rockets into my skull with the subtlety of an elephant standing on your bollocks, twice! More furious drumming and sludgey, disgusting riffs that mix all the best bits of death meatal with the tones and drops of hardcore and a vocal performance that is nothing short of amazing, this is truly on another level.

So, It’s onto the final track of the album and The Darkest Side Of Humanity does not end on a whimper or let you down, they sum up the album in one last blast of perfection, they do that melody stuff again but its subtly layered underneath the brutality that is the trademark sound, it doesn’t let up and never stops building towards one last destructive drop, the differing styles are on show and it all shapes up to the perfect ending to this horrible bastard of a record.

Well, well, well!?? What an unbelievable record The Darkest Side Of Humanity is! So far, I can only think of one record I have heard this year that best this (you can wait till the AOTY lists to see what it is). 

If you want to be stamped on, kicked about an then pummeled into a bloody puddle, this is the record for you, if you don’t and you just want fucking banger of a record, this is also for you, if you just want to hear something that is fucking awesome this is also for you” Look, whatever you want, just listen to this record, you will not regret it. 10/10

To The Grave - Liberation Front (BLKIIBLK) [Mateusz Stefanow]

Personally, I find a lot of deathcore follows a copy-paste scheme where a lot of bands fall flat just on account of trying too hard to emulate another band. I am happy to say that To The Grave does not subscribe to this, as Liberation Front is sheer brutality from start to finish/

A thrilling misanthropic trip into vegan deathcore. This album is crushing, with oppressive blast beats utilising a good imbalance between toms and cymbals, leaning more towards the former to add a depth and chunkiness to the tracks, and rhythmically they remind me of Anaal Nathrakh, which is a definite boon.

Meat The Humans hits the ground running, or blasting if you prefer. From the start you can tell this album is going to be gritty and in your face, with animalistic growls and judiciously selected horror-esque samples that blend beautifully with the harsh guitar tones.

Nail Mary could be lyrically taken for a black metal song, with their blasphemy, but that is not all this song excels at. From my earlier reviews it may show that I am a fan of well placed silent breaks, and this song showcases just how well this can work, with these being tactfully inserted in between sections of brutal beatdowns that gives the track an organic feel.

The pressure does not let up by Torture Porn, however the introduction of screams to the by now well known growls, giving this song a unique identity compared to the previous songs. Our eardrums can finally breathe a sigh of relief by the time we reach Terrorfire, only to realise that the first 2/3 were an interlude to build up for the latter 1/3, and The World Is A Slaughterhouse.

Check out this album for sure if you’re into heavy music, because it promises and delivers on all counts! 8/10

Untitled With Drums - Made Flesh (Season Of Mist) [GC]

Reading over the promo material for Untitled With Drums, there are a lot of brave references, comparing them to Quicksand, Deftones and Cave In is by any means bold but as mentioned very brave, those bands are hailed as trendsetters and icons, you have to have a heavy belief in yourself to write you are their (and I quote) ‘’worthy heir’’, I guess there is only one way to see of this is indeed worth the hype or if it’s just complete PR waffle.

Above My Head does have a purpose about it and has the grandiose atmosphere you would want and expect, the guitars are understated heavy and also beautifully melodic, the vocals when they are there are wonderfully light and airy and help with the mystique, the song builds to a wonderful crescendo and flows perfectly into Shame which has a bit more directness to it,.

There is more of an alt-rock-ness to this but it doesn’t take long for the more spaced out and mesmeric parts to begin taking the focal point but they mange to meld them together really well and create what feels like it should be a 7-8 minute track and condense it into just under 3:30, sterling work! 

Matter has a sparse yet melodic build up, there is nothing lacking in the music and it expertly done to make you really pay attention to what is being played, the vocals once again are beautifully done with a restraint and measure behind everything as you feel that this could easily be one of those were a vocalist would want to take over but its all mixed together with such precision, an exquisite track in every way. 

Gray is one of those track that makes you just want to put your headphones on close your eyes and just listen, it’s another lesson in restraint but also manages to pack the required much needed to not make you think that it’s just a nice track, it has bark and beauty in equal measure and in all honestly you would be happy if it was another couple of minutes longer as it builds and builds towards the end you just feel like you need more of it! 

Space does its best to follow on and while its does a decent enough job it doesn’t really feel as involving as some of the other tracks, is a decent enough track and has a huge mid verse/chorus combo but I just feel that there is just something holding it back, I have mentioned the restraint previously and its worked but feel a bit of an unleashing would make this a much better track. 

Change For You takes just that little bit too long to get into gear but when it does it really does, the laid back build up explodes into a melodic explosion that is just as quickly paired back into the spare build up of that fist verse and it’s a back and forth that really needs to be heard to be appreciated, its wonderfully emotional but also has the right amount of heavy to really push on and stick in the mind another inspired track. 

I think that Oblivious is my favorite track, it sounds like Alice in Chains mixed with Isis and here I am throwing out names now, but honestly it’s that good, it has the grungy riffage to start then breaks down into a spacey and flowing parts with some amazing vocals to top everything off, the way they can remind you of bands this good but still make this sound like them is testament to how good Untitled With Drums actually are! 

Parasitic is another more straightforward song that has a lot of simple guitar riffs to draw you in then breaks down and insists you pay attention then subtly draws you along before dropping back into the more riff heavy parts and this repeats in a hypnotic pattern till the end and usually this formula may be a bit boring a repetitive but not here, here its done with complete ease! 

Been So High is a strange one, it stars slowly and acoustically and then when it does come to life, I just don’t connect with it at all, I listened back to it another time and still can’t really seem to get a feel for the track? Maybe it will come in time but a slight miss on this one.

Cry gets us back to the more familiar sound and it’s a welcome return to what has made this album such a good listen, they paid back the guitars but not with acoustic tones, they are still as heavy as they need to be but they let the vocals breath and layer together with a breathtaking beauty that has summed up the vast majority of this record, the highs and lows of the song are all there and all sound glorious and it’s a fitting ending to this majestic album

Now, I doubted that Untitled With Drums sounded like some of the bands they were compared to and that because they don’t really, they have touched of them but really sound like themselves and that’s the best thing you can really ever want from a band, right? Made Flesh is a beautiful, sorrow filled, triumphant stormer of a record and definitely deserves your time, because who knows where they could go from here?? 9/10

Dissimulator - Artifice Dissolves (20 Buck Spin) [Mateusz Stefanow]

Sci-fi technical death-thrash is quite the mouthful, and that core ideal of being difficult to pin down pervades every aspect of Dissimulator’s newest release, Artifice Dissolves. 

Featuring all the members of Chthe’ilist, Philippe Boucher, the human metronome also known from Beyond Creation, Antoine Daigneault also known from Exxûl and Atramentus, a band he is joined in by the last member, Claude Leduc. This history of interconnectedness highlights the phenomenal chemistry that this trio has.

This album leans further towards thrash than death metal, but not as we know it- blistering riffs with chugging basslines and blast beats that feel like being crushed underfoot in a robotic invasion. Apophenic Rage features some back-up vocals by Leduc himself, pitch shifted into a robotic vocal style that I personally am not a huge fan of but this could definitely be a strength for another listener.

Artifice Dissolves, Alloyed and Proprioceptor all feature the backup vocals of Chthe’ilist vocalist Laurent Bellemare, adding yet another layer of complexity to the magical arpeggios and palm muted chugs that Daigneault is smashing out consistently as Boucher switches up time signatures more than the average person changes socks.

For everything this album does well, I fear some things don’t work out completely for me, namely the 45 minute runtime. I found my multiple listens to this review to be rather same-ish and I found the tracks to be mildly interchangeable to an extent, which sadly does dock them a few points in my eyes. 

Despite this, the death metal grooves along with masterful technical complexities inject vitality into the thrash DNA of this album, breaking away from the 80s reenactors. 7/10