Young'uns are calling fallingwithscissors's second EP the death and birth of an angel "breakcore"... Now, I'm in the habit of defending the opinions of my juniors, but in this case the kids' brains are shot through, I swear. Does this sound like "Same Old Chiyo Shit"? Come on, get educated... On the flip side, I read a review of this album from someone who is clearly 40, who described it (lovingly?) as an incoherent mess... Are people just not able to hear and appreciate a song with multiple parts anymore? And I thought the yutes had short attention spans. My rebuttal to said reviewer: "Sir, don't you have something more pressing... like planning your retirement? Where is your wife?" I hate to break it to you all, but there isn't some secret code to understanding the death and birth of an angel- Errorzone was only 8 years ago. Atari Teenage Riot launched 34 years ago. Get caught up, or get left behind. fallingwithscissors is a current-day metalcore band. the death and birth of an angel is a current-day hardcore record with nods to dissonant dance music, a digital hardcore record if you will -a very fine hardcore record at that- but let's not get too distracted by the anime visuals and start slapping "break-this" and "break-that" all over everything. Okay? Have a little restraint, folks. Now the death and birth of an angel a cool take on what's come before it, and is very much informed by contemporary production and EDM trends in a way reminiscent of forward-facing artists in the vein of Femtanyl and Machine Girl- with, of course, emo vocals and melodic conceits delivered with the flair of a wounded devil and evocativeof turns taken by Alice Simard with her Coffret de Bijoux project. As far as metalcore and its consequences are concerned, though, I do like the direction that this record is pointing, one that feels fresh but firmly rooted, and one that, sonically and meta-texually, acknowledges the human race's consciousness as it rapidly synthesizes with an augmented digital reality- all while retaining some semblance of the rage exerted by the animal nevertheless impounded in the interior. The way the death and birth of an angel sort of clicks together with such baneful efficiency has me thinking it's the extreme aural equivalent of a Battle Angel style cybernetic being, assembled from components of disparate designs and eras, but repurposed into a sleek and deadly visage of mechanized bionic fury, capable of venting the calvaria of a skull with a single swift blow like it was a can of cranberry sauce. A sweet cybernetic cherub, whom death follows like billous oily perfume.
