ALBUM REVIEW: Caged In Gold – Helpless
Rarely has a band name so aptly captured the sound of their music as that of HELPLESS. In fact, the south west UK trio are pretty much the sonic embodiment of despair and defeat. They deal in an utterly unforgiving brand of chaotic metallic hardcore, fitting right at home with the CULT LEADERs and MASTIFFs of this world as the kind of band where to ‘enjoy’ their music is to accept a generous degree of misery and masochism. Caged In Gold is their second full-length, and a long overdue follow-up to their well-received 2017 debut Debt. Having switched up a couple of members since then, they still have no trouble delivering the goods in this new and potent form.
Like Debt before it, Caged In Gold is a work of glorious violence. Its ten tracks span a razor sharp 28 minutes, and there’s not an ounce of fat in sight. Most songs go straight for the jugular, with the band tearing through two to three-minute flurries of dissonant grinding hardcore. Opener Wraiths Of Memory is exactly that – a twisted amalgam of crushing riffs, rapid blast beats and hair-raisingly horrible vocals. Bile continues to spew forth on The Empty Gesture and Suppression which follow, neither offering listeners a shred of respite. As opening runs go, it doesn’t get much nastier than this.
Elsewhere, HELPLESS seem more interested in holding listeners’ heads under the mire, slowing things down to suffocating and devastating effect. Fifth track Single File is a great example; it’s one of the longer songs on the record, although still less than three and a half minutes, and shows the band finding new ways to inflict merciless misery on their listeners. It’s more spaced out and threatening than the others, with distant tortured vocals sitting atop slower drums and swirling noise. Recent single Simulacrum delivers similarly spacey menace, albeit not without its own eruptions of attack-dog ferocity.
As the record comes in to land with The Great Silence, it’s clear HELPLESS have achieved something that the very best of this kind of music often does. It’s hard and horrible and relentless throughout, but crucially none of it ever really wears off. In many ways there’s even a catharsis here – an outpouring of rage against all that’s wrong with the world. Granted, many bands have done it before, but that doesn’t make Caged In Gold any less compelling.
When we spoke to HELPLESS for an upcoming feature, vocalist and guitarist Dan Couch said he wanted this album to have “more of everything”. That definitely tracks here; Caged In Gold doubles down on all the band do so well, from blistering grind to suffocating noise and sludge. In doing so, there’s absolutely no risk of listeners losing interest over this record’s tight and perfectly-judged runtime. This is metallic hardcore for miserable times, neither of which have been in short supply of late. Stick it on, let it do its thing, and you’ll be surprised just how much better it makes you feel.
Rating: 8/10
Caged In Gold is set for release on March 25th via Church Road Records.
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