EP REVIEW: Ruin The Best Of Me – Holder

With only two songs, Ruin The Best Of Me spares no time demanding you pay attention to HOLDER. With their second EP, the Massachusetts post-hardcore outfit offer two tracks that push you through frenetic heights and soaringly visceral moments that echo out of 90s and 00s screamo scenes. It’s a blast of an old school approach to post-hardcore that’s inflicted with a keen sense of moving forward. 

Inconsolable is a fast hitting, intense run through HOLDER’s ability to balance their raw edges with a deeply heartfelt approach. Riffs are fast and laced with a groove, and the vocals pierce against them as an undeniable force. Emotion permeates every corner, pulling you through the track and ensuring that a very real and raw sense of humanity is under every beat.  

On the title track, HOLDER put all they have to offer on display. A roaring track that flits from frenzy to poignancy. As the track shifts to a more delicate pace, the gentle building of drums against noodling guitars and the distant, echoed vocals add to an almost ephemeral and melancholic atmosphere. One that then builds out into a final push, a stark and intense reckoning, a catharsis and a final statement of HOLDER’s ability to wield force alongside fragility. 

HOLDER have left you wanting more with these two tracks, and there’s a lot to be said for the precision and focus that has gone into tailoring the EP. With a clear vision of what they are doing, Ruin The Best Of Me carries the torch of 90 and 00s screamo into a new space. HOLDER are unafraid to let emotion and its tumultuous capabilities lead, and, in doing so, they allow the chaos and the quiet of it to coexist and propel two tracks that will leave you swept up in their storm.

Rating: 8/10 

Ruin The Best Of Me is out now via DAZE.

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