(Andy Synn looks to the future with the new album from Germany’s Giver)
Don’t you love it when you stumble across an album that just hits you, out of nowhere, like a bolt of lightning?
It’s a fantastic feeling, and one I hope I never lose… especially when it leads me to discover the electrifying Metallic/Melodic/Post- Hardcore of a band like Giver, whose latest release – the powerfully prophetic The Future Holds Nothing But Confrontation – absolutely blew me away the first time I heard it.
Perhaps the band’s greatest strength – getting right to the heart of the matter straight away – is that while their sound is undeniably distinctive (full to bursting with righteous, fist-in-the air fury and irresistible, heart-on-sleeve hooks), with each song more than capable of standing (and standing out) on its own, they simultaneously touch upon a variety of styles and sub-genres without sounding like they’re trying to be all things to all people.
There’s more than a bit of early Thrice and Shai Hulud – albeit far, far heavier and more aggressive – to the cathartic screams, keening cleans, and crackling intensity of tracks like “Love Won’t Heal” and “Nieder”, for example, while the bleeding angst and almost seething anguish of “The Sun and How It Changes” and “Keeping You Alive” recalls both Darkest Hour and Downfall of Gaia in equal measure.
At the same time, moodier numbers like “Only When It’s Dark Enough” and “Heavy Breathing” possess an almost Post-Punk-y undercurrent beneath all the blistering blastbeats (the former) and catchy clean/harsh chorus hooks (the latter), and there’s an obvious Post-Rock/Post-Metal influence underpinning poignant penultimate track “Gravitational Pull” (which sits somewhere between A Swarm of the Sun and King Apathy on the emotional spectrum) that makes for yet another striking addition to the band’s creative palette.
None of this is to say that …Confrontation is in any way derivative – I can’t stress that enough – it’s more that I’m trying to make it clear that if you’re a fan of any of the bands mentioned above, or just a fan of incredibly passionate and powerful music in general, then you’re probably going to love the frenetic riffs and brooding bass-lines of “Zukunft” and the electrifying metallic/melodic energy of “End With Me” just as much as I do.
Sure, it’s not perfect – there’s a bit of a lull after introspective piano-led interlude “Where the Pain Begins to Speak” due to the fact that “Heavengoing” (which, to be honest, I might have left on the cutting room floor if it were up to me) struggles to find its feet until around the halfway mark – but it’s simply so, so good that I just had to write about it today, even though I’ve already reached my quota of reviews for this week!
So, please, give it a listen… and then keep an eye out towards the end of the year, because if there’s one thing I’m sure that the future holds for this album it’s that it’s definitely going to be making another appearance in December as one of my favourite records of 2024.