Candy - It's Inside You (2024)

Candy is a kind of new mutation of hardcore, and it keeps evolving. In their new album It's Inside You, beatdown is still the main component, but the Full of Hell style blackened & noisy hardcore nearly disappeared, and the nu-metal element is getting more prominent, including Slipknot style cuts & jungle breaks samples and some melodic chorus. The result is more straightforward and mainstream, but no less effective and satisfying. Most purists will probably stay away from it, but some might enjoy it as a kind of "guilty pleasure".

The BC page.

 

Four Stroke Baron - Data Diamond (2024)

Been thinking for a long time about reviewing their previous album Classics (which I recommend, as a nice "guilty pleasure"), but now they're releasing a new one, Data Diamond. So I'm reviewing their new stuff (even if maybe I prefer Classics).  Four Stroke Baron is an American duo with a daring approach to songwriting, often walking the fine line between genius and bad taste. Their music could be described as a kind of mix of Deftones and Depeche Mode, with maybe a bit of Faith No More for some added craziness. I don't like every moment of the album, but I keep going back to it (like with their previous one before). Will you dare to try it ? 

 

The Bandcamp page. 

 

 

3TEETH - EndEx (2023)

EndEx is the Fourth 3TEETH album, still quite easy listening industrial metal, often closer to Marilyn Manson or even Static-X than to NIN (with some nu-metal elements) but this time it's better than what they did on Metawar. Is it less a guilty pleasure if we say 90' metal is now "old-school"? I don't know, and don't really care, I just enjoy listening to it...

HORSKH - BODY (2024)

BODY, the third album of HORSKH (from Besançon, East of France) confirms they are among the new industrial bands that matters. They build on old school industrial music from the nineties, with a touch of EBM, but also incorporates newer sounds like dubstep, nu metal, trap metal, resulting in a music somewhere between NIN, 3Teeth and Ghostmane. But I'd say they mostly distinguish from other bands with their strong songwriting skills, their ability to write songs at the same time catchy but also avoiding sounding as standardized as a big part of industrial metal often is.

The BC page.

 

King Yosef - An Underlying Hum (2023)

Discovered King Yosef with his excellent collaboration with Youth Code. The rest of his discography is cool as well. On An Underlying Hum the most rap metal elements (rapped vocals of guests, turntablism) of his music are gone, and it's now a mix of industrial metal, nu-metal and modern hardcore (think Uniform, Deftones, Will Haven and Code Orange). Maybe I preferred his older stuff, actually. But I also enjoy An Underlying Hum. Of course, purists better abstain (but they're probably not reading this in the first palce anyway...).

The BC page.

 

Rise of The Northstar - Showdown (2023)

Following the excellent Legacy of Shi wasn't an easy task, but I'd say Rise of The Northstar managed to do it with Showdown. Their manga inspired mix of Biohazard flavoured metallic hardcore and nu metal (Korn and Slipknot comes to mind) produced again a very enjoyable album filled with finely crafted and catchy songs. Highly recommended!

 Their website 

 

Bob Vylan - Bob Vylan presents The Price of Life (2022)

Bob Vylan presents The Price of Life is the first album from English duo Bob Vylan, UK Hip-hop with guitars, with some trap metal, some grime, some ragga, elements reminding The Prodigy, or maybe The Beastie Boys as well. A bit like City Morgue / ZillahKami, but more grime and less grim, and very UK. Cool stuff!

The BC page.

Ho99o9 - Skin (2022)

Skin is another wild ride of an album from trap/punk/nu-metal duo Ho99o9 (who teamed on this album with Travis Barker on drums and production. Are also featured Saul Williams, Corey Taylor and Bun-B). Like their first one (United States of Horror)Skin is a very fun and enjoyable album and confirms that they are among the very best "trap metal" bands.

Their website.

City Morgue - Vol. 3 : Bottom of the Barrel (2021)

Maybe City Morgue are not really trap metal, but they definitely have plenty of heavy guitars in their songs (from grunge to neo-metal). With Vol. 3 : Bottom of the Barrel the duo (SosMula & ZillaKami) is back with an album that is maybe not as good as ZillaKami "Dog Boy" or as their "Vol.2", but better than the disappointing "Toxic Boogaloo". They keep on establishing as one of the best and more entertaining trap band.

City Morgue official website.

 

ZillaKami - Dog Boy (2021)

Intended to review a City Morgue album for a while, but the last album of the trap duo Toxic Boogaloo was a bit disappointing (was ok but not as good as As Good As  Dead) and it seems a new City Morgue album is gonna drop soon (called Bottom of the Barrel). So for now I'm reviewing the solo album of one og the City Morgue member, ZillaKami, the most versatile vocalist of the two and he also seems to be the most creative element of the duo, rapping, singing and producing. His first album Dogboy is an excellent exercise in trap metal, with tracks going from aggressive to depressive, the first ones with riffs the could reminds Slipknot (the quick intro featuring Corey Taylor is not here by chance) and the others with riffs more in a Deftone and grunge vein and with more melodic vocals. This rap/metal mix have sometimes produced atrocious results but KillaKami is really good to make it work and Dogboy will probably stay as one of the best trap/hip-hop album of the year. Recommended stuff.

Ho99o9 - United States of Horror (2017)

After a good mixtape in 2015 Dead Bodies in the Lake, in which Ho99o9 were already adding rock/metal elements (drumming, guitars) to their trap, they released their still only album United States of Horror in 2017, an industrial punk trap mutant that is in my opinion one of the few good "trap metal" album. Ugly and wild, and I like it!

Youth Code & King Yosef - A Skeleton Key in the Doors of Depression (2021)

A Skeleton Key in the Doors of Depression is a collaborative album between industrial metal/EBM duo Youth Code and King Yosef (see previous post). It's an interesting and enjoyable album mixing old school and new sound, some tracks sounds more like Youth Code but with King Yosef alternating with YC's Sara Taylor on vocals whereas other tracks sounds a bit like NIN's Pretty hate machine colliding with early Korn. And why not?

The Bandcamp page.

 

 

King Yosef - Guilty (EP 2018)

I discovered King Yosef with his collaboration with Youth Code (that I will soon review). He's producing hip-hop/trap music (and is also in a hardcore metal band) but, even if there's a trap element in this EP (called Guilty and released in 2018), I'd say it actually has most of the time a pure sound from the nineties, reminds the beginnings of Korn and Slipknot, "old-school nu-metal" if I dare say, even also a bit of Prodigy (the jungle/big beat loops). Kind of stuff I was listening too before moving on to death/black/grind. Maybe because of that I enjoy this EP. Like everything nu-metal related it's bordering "bad taste" but he's doing it right. Let's say it's a good "guilty pleasure". 

The BC page.