Boundaries - 'Yearning: the unbeautiful after' Album Review

1 day ago
4 min read

Tracklist:

1. Malconscience

2. Skies cast amber black

3. May this pain never leave

4. Torn wide open (feat. Make Them Suffer)

5. Bitter ash, bitter love

6. Unequal whole

7. Death will follow me

8. The leper's bell

9. Crowned and crucified (feat. Landon Tewers)

10. Wasted angel

11. Evidence of extinction

12. Nothing, gathered

13. Only endless

14. Yearning: The unbeautiful after

Connecticut Metalcore 5 piece Boundaries return with their 4th Album, 'Yearning: The Unbeautiful'

after, released on July 17th via Sumerian Records.

Exploding right out of the gates with 'Malconscience', Boundaries pull no punches with the amount of heavy from the very start, with the pounding guitar riffs, powerful drums and feral vocals, this is a brilliant introduction to the record, punctuated with the switch to halftime at the midnpoint of the track, this is raw aggression in two and a half minutes.

'Skies cast amber black' follows suit, maintaing that fervent energy, with the chugging guitars and pick slides adding extra dimensions, at times sounding borderline demonic, especially in the breakdown that just keeps adding layers upon layers of heavy, each vocalist putting in unique performances that combine to make one beautifully gnarly track.

'May this pain never leave' provides the first instance of clean vocals, but don't mistake that for a sign of weakness, as you'd be proved wrong by the blast beats and note perfect dual guitars. It harkens back to older style Metalcore, whilst maintaining that modern, harder edge in a brilliantly balanced way, capping things off with a breakdown to end the track in brutal fashion.

'Torn wide open' somehow amps up the feral nature we've seen thus far, with a massive feature from Make Them Suffer, who seen to be everywhere at the moment. They're verging more and more into hardcore territory with this one, feeling more and more like someone released a pack of rabid wild animals who can play instruments into the studio with each passing second, especially with the vocal at 2:09, and the switch to the haunting vocals of the extended outro is damn near masterful, providing a moment of respite.

'Bitter ash, bitter love' makes sure that rest is only fleeting, throwing you back into the ring in suitably brutal fashion. It maintains the feral energy to the absolute max, throwing in some sub-bass to shake you to your core, and the phlegm you can hear in the title call out before the outro breakdown scratches such an itch for me.

Saying 'Unequal whole' feels more emotional is a bit of a disservice to the track. It's still just as batshit insane heavy as the rest of the record, but feels more broken and raw, trading chugging guitars for lighter riffs during the verses, bringing an intricacy to the playing in a back-and-forth that brings even more balance, with some brilliant, subtle drum fills that really elevate the track.

'Death will follow me' ramps things back up even further than 11 in a glitchy, hate filled four minutes that goes off like a flashbang. Constant double-bass drumming up until the breakdown gives the track an even more prevalent sense of urgency, but suddenly by a breakdown, balancing the clean vocals in the verses before another, slower, glitchier breakdown smashes in to provide even more utter chaos.

'The leper's bell' brings us to an even more demonic sound, with tri-tone guitars rife amongst the chugs, being replaced in quick succession by blast beats and crystal-clear screams, with clean vocals swapping in and out to provide a brilliant dynamic of soft and heavy, this time verging into deathcore, Lorna Shore-esque territory.

A brisk finish takes us right into 'Crowned and crucified'. A return to the glitchy stop-start, Landon Tewers' vocals feel right at home in this one, playing just as well in the established sound of this record as they do in The Plot In You's own releases. At points, it sounds like there's double the amount of guitarists with how insane the playing and production is, and the warped, creepy ass outro fuels the aggressive, horror movie aesthetic.

'Wasted angel' somehow manages to escalate things even further, providing the most guttural track so far. Each added vocal line provides a further insanity that is hard to quantify, backed up by groovier guitars slipped in amongst the chugs, it is an astonishingly brutal 2:26 of absolute fury.

'Evidence of extinction' carries that brutality even further, pairing halftime guitars with flat out blast beats, and more of that glitchy tone, I fully recommend listening to this one with headphones on, as the way that the track spins around each ear is absolutely breathtaking, especially in the leadup to the breakdown that brings the track to its wall of noise conclusion.

'Nothing, gathered 'feels like mid-noughties, Bullet For My Valentine esque Metalcore on all the steroids, combining the emotive guitars with heavy chugs, melding the clean and screamed vocals in another production masterclass while never losing the aggression that's prevailed throughout the previous 11 tracks.

Penultimate track 'Only endless' follows on seamlessly whilst also taking a hard left into a field more akin to The Amity Affliction. Clean vocals are the most prevalent in this track than they have been on any other so far, trading verses and choruses with the heavy as ever screams. It's the most vulnerable track of the record, and it absolutely soars in places. Naturally it still has a fucking brutal breakdown, but could we expect anything else?

Title and closing track 'Yearning: The unbeautiful after' kicks things back into aggressive gear in fitting fashion, but then mellows back out again to provide that blend of hard and soft, with perhaps one of the standout vocal performances of the album. It provides a brilliant and fitting conclusion to an utterly bonkers album.

As I just said this record is absolutely bonkers, verging on the insane. It is so consistently brutal in a way that I haven't seen for a good couple of years for a new release in this genre. Each member of Boundaries should take a bow, because simply put, this is a masterclass in heavy music. I don't have any other words for it.