ALBUM REVIEW: It’s Inside You – Candy
CANDY are normally a band one goes to for a pretty miserable time – in a good way of course. Even looking at the artwork for most of their records can leave you feeling like you need a bath, to say nothing of the extremity of the music contained within. Last time out, on 2022’s Heaven Is Here, someone spilled a sizable dollop of industrial metal into the band’s already noxious brew of noise-addled metallic hardcore, and clearly they liked the taste because there’s plenty more of it on their third full-length It’s Inside You. But, true to form at this point, the evolution doesn’t stop there.
For starters, and still in its own twisted way, It’s Inside You is actually meant to be fun – inspirational and motivational where its predecessors have been bleak and nihilistic. The title may seem somewhat threatening at first glance, especially with the aforementioned artwork of some of their previous efforts in mind, but get to the track it takes its name from and you’ll realise it’s about one of hardcore’s favourite ever subjects of finding strength within and doing things your own way (“Start the riot / It’s inside you”). It’s relevant in two ways really, speaking not only to the album’s themes of empowerment, but also to CANDY’s insistence on playing by their own rules and expanding and defining a sound, style and world that feels increasingly unique to them.
Of course, none of this comes at the expense of extremity. Opener and lead single eXistenZ sees to that from the outset – not even a minute-and-a-half of raging metallic hardcore punctuated by skittering electronic breaks and a huge nu-metal-esque groove thrown in the middle for good measure. In fact the first third of the record is basically all industrial hardcore bangers – all stomp and bounce and definitely a little Forever-era CODE ORANGE, with some killer guitar solos from Aaron Melnick of INTEGRITY and David Gagliardi of TRASH TALK on Short Circuit and the aforementioned title track respectively, and guest vocals from the inimitable Justice Tripp of ANGEL DU$T and TRAPPED UNDER ICE on recent single You Will Never Get Me between them.
The album arguably gets heavier still in later cuts too – the monstrous industrial crusher Dehumanize Me and the 90-second grindy rager Terror Management being two more prime examples – but before that comes the real hidden gem (or maybe not so hidden given that it’s already been released as a single). Love Like Snow is unlike anything CANDY have ever done before, not entirely unabrasive due to the continued bark of vocalist Zak Quiram, but also strikingly ethereal and melodic thanks to the efforts of LA producer mmph and the guest vocals of MIRSY (aka Marisa Shriar of FLESHWATER) which seem almost to float atop the track’s throbbing electronics and dreamy synths. It’s a moment of musical light to match the less immediately apparent thematic one, impressive both in how naturally it fits on the record and how well-timed it is in cleansing the palate before the violence resumes.
Ultimately that is one of It’s Inside You’s greatest triumphs, the way it does so much but still manages to feel so cohesive, so true to CANDY despite the presence of such esteemed guests and the fact that one may be able to make at least passing comparisons to other bands (like CODE ORANGE) at points. If there is one criticism it’s that the rave-heavy combo of Dancing To The Infinite Beat and Hypercore may be quite a lot to ask right at the end of the record – though perhaps not as much as the ten-minute noise track on the last one – but that is more a reflection on placement than quality and regardless it takes very little away from another remarkable effort from a band who are completely deserving of their reputation as one of the best and most interesting acts in hardcore today.
Rating: 8/10
It’s Inside You is set for release on June 7th via Relapse Records.
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