ALBUM REVIEW: This Pain Will Serve You – Confessions Of A Traitor
London’s CONFESSIONS OF A TRAITOR have seen their stock rise in recent years. Their 2022 release Punishing Myself Before God Does was a minor hit, and led to them appearing at several major festivals and embarking on their first US tour. It consisted of ten brutish, breakdown-heavy metalcore anthems and was a satisfyingly macho album, even if it didn’t exactly push the genre in a bold new direction.
Their newly released third record continues much in the same vein, but with a smattering of subtle improvements in the melodies and songwriting. This Pain Will Serve You is a good example of how to follow a successful release; they take what worked, keep doing it, and make it better. The choruses are tighter, the riffs are massive and there’s an emotional depth and maturity as well. It’s too aggressive to secure them any arena support slots with BRING ME THE HORIZON, but anyone that enjoys BURY TOMORROW but wishes they dialled back on the clean choruses a bit should love this.
Opener Starve kicks things off in a violently straightforward manner. As far as metalcore goes, this is the audio equivalent of being punched in slow motion; you know exactly what you’re going to get, but that doesn’t make it any less violent. It’s a thundering introduction, less than two and a half minutes long and packed with power chords and larynx-shredding vocals. There’s the tiniest smidgeon of djent tucked away in it, but otherwise, this is straight up metalcore. If you’ve ever walked through Manchester during Outbreak Festival season, you’ll have heard music like this a hundred times before, but CONFESSIONS OF A TRAITOR do it very well.
The majority of the track list follows a similar template, with the likes of Doomsayer and Hail Mary being perfect stage-dive and circle pit fodder. And despite the themes of grief and loss that are carved into it, This Pain Will Serve You isn’t drenched in self-pity. This is a record about acknowledging suffering, but not letting it consume you.
Arguably the strongest part though is the middle. After the veritable bludgeoning of the first four cuts, the comparatively sedate Still Haunted feels like a respite. It’s far from a sedate track, but it has a bittersweet undercurrent that makes it one of the record’s more rewarding efforts, as well as a beautifully catchy chorus. It’s followed by Love You Left Behind, another melodious and well-written number that explores remorse, regret and mental anguish. It’s not quite a tear-jerker, but it’s interested in more than just rounding up 99 mates and picking a fight with a gorilla.
This Pain Will Serve You does have a couple of flaws, with Noble Bloom standing out as a lesser cut that’s unlikely to show up at their live gigs. For the most part though, this is reliably entertaining mosh metal with plenty of depth in the lyrics. CONFESSIONS OF A TRAITOR clearly love their chosen genre and see no reason to stray from convention, but that isn’t necessarily a drawback. If the thought of a recently bereaved drill instructor shouting encouragement at you over breakdowns is appealing, you’ll love this.
Rating: 7/10
This Pain Will Serve You is set for release on May 16th via Facedown Records.
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