EP REVIEW: Taunt – DETHRXNER
Following up their 2020 debut album with a five-track EP, Copenhagen’s DETHRXNER are back. On Taunt, the band solidifies their sound by following on from the debut and whilst it isn’t fully formed yet, this release is a good stop gap for anyone wanting to hear what they are all about.
Promising to be unapologetic and self-empowering for the listener are the mission statements this time out. With huge metallic guitars that club you over the head and the kind of motivational lyrics that you would find on a HATEBREED release, they’re clearly not a band that is concerned with being subtle in any sort of way. When your opening chorus is “get good or go home”, you’re making that clear from the off, that’s if the wall of metallic hardcore doesn’t give that away immediately.
On this side of things, it definitely feels like there is more to come. It might not be the most heavyweight version of it you’ve ever heard but that bruising metallic hardcore riffing goes hand-in-hand with the in your face style. There’s some electronic elements thrown in as well to make it more abrasive but they don’t add a whole lot, especially when the core sound is such a loud wall of noise coming at you.
Where this EP does start to push on from that is when it integrates rap and hip-hop more into the sound. There’s always been elements of this but the more it’s integrated, the less the hardcore elements start to feel a little obvious. The final two tracks are the best examples for this with Stay Cold having way more bounce than the other tracks as the electronics serve as a looping sample that almost becomes a beat.
Hardcore music has always had that crossover potential with alternative hip-hop and it’s a much needed added bit of flavour here. Whilst it’s still not fully realised or blended entirely seamlessly, it goes a long way to freshen things up a bit. The guest features on this project echo that sentiment also, whilst having a heavier vocalist jump on the track to deliver an extra haymaker at the end, Shaolin G on the fifth and final track (Power) adding some solid rapping to the track is so much more interesting in the context of their sound.
Whilst it is often predictable, Taunt does do what it says on the tin. The hardcore beats you over the head with how low it is and being able to approach the hip-hop elements with the cocky, tongue-in-cheek style that the music DETHRXNER are drawing from has in abundance stops it from feeling too po-faced and bland. Whilst both elements of their sound still have lots of room to grow in terms of being able to stand on their own, there’s some signs here that the combination of the two could be greater than the sum of its parts.
Rating: 6/10
Taunt is set for release on June 2nd via Prime Collective.
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