ALBUM REVIEW: Burn In The Flood – Our Hollow, Our Home
Southampton metalcore mob OUR HOLLOW, OUR HOME have been making a name for themselves as a band nipping at the heels of their contemporaries with an invigorating take on modern metalcore. With their third album Burn In The Flood, it’s clear they’re making a bid for the crown as British metalcore’s brightest stars – it’s a tall order, certainly, but one not as out of reach as you might think.
Opening with the title track, the band waste no time in making clear they mean business. The stadium-sized riff is accented by electronics, though it then smooths out into a more relaxed, synth-driven verse. Their blend of vocal styles is on full display, and as an album opener it does exactly what it needs to. It’s a high energy trip through their various influences like OF MICE & MEN and WHILE SHE SLEEPS and how they melt them all down to produce something identifiably them.
Likewise, Failsafe has a soaring, epic chorus and also throws in a djent-inspired chugging breakdown to make sure the pit stays open and heads stay moving. In Retrospect is one of the heaviest cuts here, a furious, galloping riff-driven affair that chugs and churns. Monarch has a stomping rock’n’roll groove taken and made their own with incendiary vocals and driving double bass drums. Not merely content to bludgeon on their own, Remember Me features a guest spot from none other than Ryo Kinoshita (CRYSTAL LAKE) who brings a whole new dimension of heavy with his almost guttural, throat-tearing screams.
Lyrically the album tackles various themes, from overcoming adversity to contemplating your own life and mental health struggles. OUR HOLLOW, OUR HOME carefully balance rage with raw emotion without tipping too far either way or sounding contrived. The guitar tone is full and crunchy exactly as you’d expect, while the drums are thunderous, percussive battering rams underneath it all. The only missteps are some rapped passages that don’t quite stick their landing, such as on Blood. While the feeling and emotion is there, they don’t work and detract from a song that is otherwise an emotionally fraught slow ballad that tugs on the heartstrings.
Clearly well-versed in the art of the epic chorus, the band blend vitriolic roars with soaring melodies to craft infectious songs that simply demand singalongs – even if that’s currently from the bedroom rather than screamed back at them on the stage. As you’d expect from any metalcore band worth their salt, they’re also equally comfortable dropping in massive breakdowns such as that of Overcast that also features a gleeful “blegh!” as if to channel their inner Sam Carter.
Ultimately, this is exactly where OUR HOLLOW, OUR HOME have been heading over the preceding two albums and exactly where they need to be. Taking all the hallmarks of modern metalcore, including the tales of overcoming adversity, the band craft an album of both crushing heaviness and serene melody. As the final notes of Seven Years (Shine A Light On Me) fade out, there’s a feeling that the inner turmoil has quietened and a sense of finding peace through this catharsis. It’s an honest, stirring album that should cement the band as one of the UK’s leading lights in modern metalcore.
Rating: 8/10
Burn In The Flood is set for release on May 28th via //Hollow Music.
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