ALBUM REVIEW: The Sin Of Human Frailty – END

It is no exaggeration at all to say that there aren’t really any bands that have ever made hardcore heavier than END. In 2017, the supergroup made their intentions known with the game-changing From The Unforgiving Arms Of God EP – a record whose title says it all; in 2020, they showed that it wasn’t just a one time thing, somehow going even bleaker on their debut full-length Splinters From An Ever-Changing Face; and then just last year they gave hardcore’s most devoted masochists a little something to tide them over in the form of a truly irresponsible split with CULT LEADER (realistically the only other band with a shot at the plaudit mentioned at the top). All roads thus far have brought the band to The Sin Of Human Frailty, their second full-length and one that raises an already high bar just that little bit higher.

Mention of that split with CULT LEADER is particularly relevant here, as the industrial influences found in END’s contributions to that record – especially The Host Will Soon Decay – are perhaps the most notable source of development in the band’s sound on this album. Recent single Thaw is one of the most obvious examples, all noisy and buzzing with layers of effects and pianos and drum machines and elevated considerably by the piercing shrieks and ghostly cleans of Debbie Gough of HERIOT, while on the record Hollow Urn hammers it home further still as menacing atmospheric textures and sudden jarring throbs find their place in a track that still ends in glorious metallic hardcore savagery.

And that’s arguably the most impressive thing about The Sin Of Human Frailty; there are moments where the band take the industrial influences and run with them, but most of all they are baked into the overall sound in a way that just makes END feel ever more suffocating and apocalyptic, and arguably moves them even more clearly into their own lane. Grindcore, metallic hardcore, death metal and even bits of black metal are all held so cohesively in the band’s experienced hands as they reel off perfect exercises in total violence like the stomp and scrape of lead single Gaping Wounds Of Earth or the super chaotic Embodiment Of Grief or indeed anything else on the journey to the world-ending close of the album’s final track Leper.

Just for bonus points as well, Gough isn’t the only cool guest feature here; J.R. Hayes of the legendary PIG DESTROYER and Dylan Walker of FULL OF HELL lend their enviable talents to Twice Devoured Kill and Worthless Is The Lamb respectively – both instantly recognisable on the tracks they appear on, but neither feeling shoehorned in or distracting. As is the case with the actual members of this band, the personalities aren’t what matters here; there’s no coasting on how many great records Will Putney has played on or produced, or how many times Brendan Murphy has made you cry with COUNTERPARTS, just an unwavering commitment to annihilation of the highest order.

If all this sounds like hyperbole that’s only because nothing else will suffice. END just keep getting better and bleaker and they’ve never sounded more terrifying – or indeed more themselves – than they do on The Sin Of Human Frailty. For a project that Putney literally told us is meant to be something carefree on the side of all the other stuff its members are involved in, the band just can’t seem to resist trying to put at least a few cracks in the fabric of the universe while they’re at it. Maybe none of this should come as a surprise considering the talents of all involved, but still, bloody hell.

Rating: 9/10

The Sin Of Human Frailty is set for release on October 27th via Closed Casket Activities.

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