ALBUM REVIEW: Your Receding Warmth – Boundaries
There’s no denying that recent years have seen a resurgence in a very specific type of metalcore. Bands like RENOUNCED, SEEYOUSPACECOWBOY… and 156/SILENCE are just a few of those who have put out records in the past year or so which feel deeply reminiscent of the genre’s early 00s heyday. Your Receding Warmth, the debut full-length from Connecticut-based five-piece BOUNDARIES, is another such record. With its panic chords, punishing breakdowns and shifting tempos, it brings to mind some of that era’s best names. In particular, it draws strong comparisons to the likes of MISERY SIGNALS, AUGUST BURNS RED and DARKEST HOUR. With those reference points, a lot of metalcore fans are unsurprisingly pretty excited about BOUNDARIES. And so they should be.
Your Receding Warmth follows the band’s well-received 2019 EP, My Body In Bloom. This time around BOUNDARIES set out to sound “bigger, better, and meaner than ever.” To do this, they’ve enlisted the help of producer Randy Leboeuf, known for his work with COUNTERPARTS and THE ACACIA STRAIN among others. He’s a good fit for the band, with his production adding a clear, crisp quality to their vicious sound.
For bands like BOUNDARIES, the challenge is always in proving why people should listen to them when there are so many other great metalcore bands. On Your Receding Warmth, they do an excellent job of this. A good part of it comes down to the captivating performance of the band’s vocalist, Matthew McDougal. His abrasive vocals demonstrate a savagery reminiscent of COALESCE‘s Sean Ingram, or even SLIPKNOT‘s Corey Taylor. At other points he shows a completely different side, delivering some dark gothy cleans. This is perhaps most obvious on the record’s sixth track, Behind The Bend, where some may even hear shades of TYPE O NEGATIVE‘s Peter Steele. That isn’t to say McDougal‘s performance is the only reason this is a good record. The band behind him are consistently tight and creative, with the result making for one of the best metalcore releases of the year.
Your Receding Warmth is of a high standard throughout, but it definitely peaks around the middle. Fifth track Get Out is a broad continuation of the chaotic pummelling which precedes it, but its second half sees BOUNDARIES offer up arguably the most memorable moment of the entire record. Here McDougal repeatedly screams “I am undeniable!” and “Who the fuck are you?” over a series of gut-punching and bouncy breakdowns. It’s a song that’s sure to have crowds both moshing and screaming it’s rage filled hooks at the same time.
Next song Behind The Bend is another highlight. It’s definitely the most dynamic of the record so far, with mellow gloomy verses featuring McDougal’s already mentioned gothic vocals. Again, the song’s final moments see the band kick things up a notch in terms of savagery. This time around they opt for a more downtempo and dissonant breakdown which feels all the more fierce thanks to the relative quiet of the preceding verses.
BOUNDARIES maintain the quality for the remainder of Your Receding Warmth. Many of these later songs even have touches of early KILLSWITCH ENGAGE to them – always a good thing for a band like this. This is especially clear in the Gothenburg riffs of eighth track I’d Rather Not Say. It’s also heard in the squealing pinch harmonics of the next song, One Moment From Disaster. This may lead some to point out that BOUNDARIES haven’t exactly reinvented the wheel. That’s definitely a fair criticism. However, the songs on this record are so well-executed that it’s difficult to see many actually having a problem with them.
The album ends on the stunning From The Departed, Dear Or Otherwise. This song is a significant shift from the sound of the rest the album. Instead of visceral metalcore, here the band opt for something far quieter and cleaner. On it, McDougal delivers a mournful spoken poem which references each of the album’s track titles as the band behind him gradually build to a crescendo. It makes for a powerful, atmospheric, even beautiful, closer, ending just as it feels like it’s about to explode.
In 2020, there’s absolutely no risk of running out of great metalcore bands. Even still, BOUNDARIES are right up there with the best of them. It’s actually difficult to believe that Your Receding Warmth is only their debut album. With it, they’ve proven themselves more than worthy of the excitement surrounding them. Even more exciting is the prospect of what BOUNDARIES might achieve if they can build on the quality of this record going forward. If they do, they may well find themselves held up among some of the best names ever to be considered metalcore.
Rating: 9/10
Your Receding Warmth is set for release on November 13th via Unbeaten Records.
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