ALBUM REVIEW: MORE POWER. MORE PAIN. – Gideon
Plenty has been written on the story of GIDEON (the band, although yes, probably also the Bible character) in recent years, but just to make sure everyone’s on the same page, here’s a quick recap. Formed in 2008 as a Christian melodic metalcore/hardcore outfit, the Alabamans spent their first decade releasing a steady flow of solid if somewhat safe records before hitting something of a detonate button in 2019. Deciding that they no longer considered themselves a Christian band, that year they released Out Of Control – their angriest record to date, and one imbued with a significant nu-metalcore influence. It saw them find freedom – power even – in facing their pain head on, an idea which leads very nicely onto their sixth full-length album MORE POWER. MORE PAIN., which promises that as the latter increases, so too will the former.
For many, this idea will be particularly appealing in light of the intense pain of the last few years, and therefore perhaps the greatest success of this album is that it really does have that fire-in-your-veins, take-on-the-world hardcore thing nailed. GIDEON are clearly still pretty pissed, but just like HATEBREED, TERROR and all the rest, they’re determined to channel that into something positive and life-affirming – a reminder to listeners that you can overcome more than you might initially think you can, and an encouragement to stare your struggles and even the people that bring you down dead in the face and “Break them before they break you”, as vocalist Daniel McWhorter puts it in third track Push It Back.
Of course, the band back these messages up with all manner of muscle; MORE POWER. MORE PAIN. arguably raises the bar even further on the aggression of its predecessor, carrying on with more of the nu-metalcore influences that worked so well on the band’s last outing but this time adding perhaps more of a beatdown hardcore element that could go blow for blow with some of the scene’s hardest hitters like KUBLAI KHAN TX or HARM’S WAY. The first half of the record in particular refuses to pull its punches, with the swaggering Too Much Is Never Enough, the industrial-tinged heft of the title track, and the especially nu-metally Take Off forming a tight run of singles from tracks four through six to present a threat to gyms and mosh-pits everywhere.
Arguably as needed however, GIDEON do mix things up a bit here and there. The second half of the record is generally a little more atmospheric and melodic than the first, this change heralded quite clearly by the soaring lead lines of eighth track If You Love Me, Let Me Go, which mark arguably the first time the album harks back to the melodic metalcore sound the band first made their name with. I Will Carry You offers something similar a little later on, again with Tyler Riley’s guitar work elevating the track to more expansive and emotive heights that evoke the likes of THE GHOST INSIDE and COUNTERPARTS, to use a couple of comparisons that have followed the band around for a while.
These stylistic shifts prove crucial in light of MORE POWER. MORE PAIN.’s reasonably lengthy runtime. Clocking in at 46 minutes, it’s the band’s longest album by some margin, and realistically more than one needs for a big aggro metallic hardcore record like this. That said however, there isn’t really anything that’s crying out for the cut here, aside perhaps from the somewhat pointless hip-hop beats of closer Let ‘Er Fly. Most likely the best way to tighten this up would be to drop a couple of the later more aggro-focused tracks, not because they are any weaker than any of the others, but because if we’re being harsh they don’t offer anything the album hasn’t already done just as well in its stellar first half, for example.
But that’s a nitpick, and while it might have made MORE POWER. MORE PAIN. just that tiny bit punchier, GIDEON really don’t need much help in that regard. This record is another impressive show of power from a band who really seem to have found their voice in the last few years. It’s a testament to taking things in your stride and earning things the hard way, and no doubt it will inspire those who listen to do the same.
Rating: 8/10
MORE POWER. MORE PAIN is set for release on March 17th via Rude Records/Equal Vision Records.
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