(Andy Synn kicks off a brand new week with a review of fearsome French foursome Areis)
Last week featured an absolute bonanza of new album releases, at least some of which we’ll hopefully be able to catch you up on over the next couple of weeks.
But one name which jumped out at me – although I couldn’t at first put my finger on why – was Areis.
It didn’t take me too long, however, to remember that back in 2021 (which simultaneously feels like just yesterday and a thousand years ago) I stumbled across the band’s self-titled debut album and instantly took a liking to it, despite not knowing much about the band themselves.
And although I didn’t have a chance to give the group a full write up at the time, that’s something I’d like to correct with their second full-length, The Calling.
Now, while Areis are most often referred to as “Blackened Hardcore” I’m not entirely convinced that’s the most accurate, or most illuminating, description of what they actually do.
Sure, there’s a Black Metal influence to their sound (the needling tremolo lines of opener “Shattered Lands” are evidence enough of that), just as there’s a hint of Post-Metal in certain tracks (especially Giver-esque mid-album stand-out “How Far”), but the choppy riffs and chunky rhythms of tracks like “Rise From the Ruins” and “Behind the Gate” undeniably owe far more to the likes of Converge and All Out War than anything from the more “blackened” end of the metallic continuum.
So how should you refer to the band? Well, I’ve been settling for “Dark Hardcore” – in that it’s clearly Hardcore (the drum and bass interplay in particular only adds to the classic Metalcore/Metallic Hardcore feel of the music), but with a darker, gloomier edge than that tag might imply – but, in truth it doesn’t really matter.
After all, songs like the righteously heavy “We Are” (which really shows off the album’s impressively meaty guitar tone) and the broodingly infectious bruiser that is “D’ocre et de sang” (one of many tracks where the hooks are just as hefty as the riffs) will ultimately sound just as good no matter what you call them.
What’s more important is that I’ve found The Calling to be a real grower… because while it definitely hit me hard enough to make me want to come back to it (if nothing else these boys definitely know how to make an impact) it was only over the course of multiple listens that I came to really appreciate both the insidiously catchy nature of the album and how smartly arranged these ten tracks – deceptively simple at first glance, but concealing a surprising amount of hidden depth – actually are (with the clever blend of metallic muscle, moody melody, and weighty, low-end atmosphere that is the cathartic closing title-track being a perfect example).
It’s a real dark horse, that’s for sure, and one I hope at least some of you will check out so that it doesn’t go overlooked amidst everything else that was released last week!