I'm just going to write a whole-ass review for ERRA's self-titled LP that released a few weeks ago, as if it were a band on this site.
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Many self-titled albums that are not also debuts represent a band shedding its former fanbase and sound for commercial viability. The goal of these bands is to fool their potential new fans into thinking that the ST is their first album ever. By titling them the same names as the bands themselves, these albums serve to say "this is who we are now, and everything before is nothing but an embarrassing old shame."
Other self-titled albums are ERRA's fifth album: titled as such because they are the purest expression of everything that band stands for, monumental achievements that sythesize every single aspect of the band's sound and perfect them.
ERRA plays a style of technical and progressive metalcore that represents the most extreme type of metalcore--not in the sense that they are extremely heavy, but in that they have gone beyond the roots of their genre as far as they could. This style of metalcore is too distanced from metal's straightforward riff-driven structure, yet at the same time it is too technical, too atmospheric, too grandiose for hardcore. This is pure -core--no longer a fusion of metal and hardcore, but an entirely new genre synthesized from the fusion of them and expanded into its own unique being. Bands like Invent, Animate, Blueshift, Heart of a Coward, and Northlane represent this style of metalcore. And ERRA, to be frank, is the ultimate example of it.
ERRA started off playing a style of djent-heavy technical progressive metalcore, with their albums Impulse and Augment, the latter of which I (and many) still considered one of the best metalcore albums of all time. Embracing both chug sections with complex rhythms with astructual tapping sections, ERRA's music never was comprised of riffs the way metalheads view them. When rhythm guitarist Alan Rigdon and harsh vocalist Garrison Lee left after Augment's release, the band recruited a new vocalist JT Cavey from Texas in July, and radically changed their style with their next LP, Drift. Jesse Cash, lead singer and guitarist, modified the band's sound extensively, trading away some of the heaviness for a more stripped-down and oceanic sound, as if one were falling down deep into the deepest trenches of the oceans. The album was definitely controversial, but upon release, even a guy like me who absolutely went into it expecting to hate instead came out amazed at how ERRA reinvented their sound completely and crafted music as heartfelt and technical as their previous work. I was thus excited immensely for their next LP, Neon, but that album was a rather messy and unfocused expansion of Drift's core ideas, with far worse production. I was rather disappointed, and when the self-titled was announced, I was a bit hesitant.
Thankfully, it's a good contender for their best album, and one of the best metalcore albums of all time.
ERRA (the album) is the perfect expansion to Drift's stripped-down sound that could possibly exist. Rather than the deep benthic feel of that LP, the ST focuses on almost a more soaring and open-air feel with clearer production. The instrumentals are as amazing as ever--ERRA's guitars are compromised of a few certain techniques. Firstly, they adore a style of riffing that feels almost like a metal riff, but broken up by djent-esque chugs for a staccato feel--the intro to Remnant and the verse riff Eidolon are excellent examples of this. They also adore tapping sections, which often meander without repeating themselves into a coherent melody, yet never feel aimless. These are some of my favorite parts of the album. ERRA is simply incredibly good at integrating little licks, taps, chugs, and all sorts of guitar techniques without ever being needlessly random or aimless. Technicality is threaded into the songs to improve them, never to show off. The band has no issue with chugging power chords for a catchy chorus or slowing things down when they have to be, such as the majority of Shadow Autonomous, a calm song which tastefully includes bits and pieces of technical guitarwork when they matter. 1:35 of that song is nowhere near the most complex section in the whole album, but it's one of my faves on the whole album regardless. Even when they are being more melodic and softer, ERRA never uses that an excuse to just pump out a generic procession of chugs and power chords. Breakdowns are a constant in the album, as they should be given its genre, but they are never forced, nor does the band dwell excessively on them. ERRA's breakdowns often simply appear without a big fanfare or build-up section, because that's not fitting for this kind of music and these dudes know how to make songs that flow together amazingly.
Which really truly is ERRA's biggest strength. Metalcore, and to be frank its two parent genres that form its name, can have a really large problem of each song in an album sounding near-identical from a tone perspective, but ERRA almost never falls into that trap. ERRA's songs are distinct not merely because of what notes they are playing. They feel distinct. Electric Twilight is not merely a song about a surreal psychoactive experience during a mind-melting lightning storm, the very song itself evokes that emotion from its dreamy clean vocals and haunting synths and keys; its chorus sounds as if the rain is pouring down around you with the pummeling guitar chords, and the JT's vocals as well as the slapping bass and chugging breakdown in the post-chorus bridge (and intro) are a reflection on the experience. Lunar Halo's surreal, oneiric, and celestial soundscape and tone bleed through every bit of its composition from its vocoder intro to its soaring chorus and its guitar leads that flit about. Scorpion Hymn is as dark as its name implies. Every song evokes its intended emotions as strongly through its composition as in its lyrics. ERRA's songs are about something, and not merely playing host to lyrics about something. Strip the vocals entirely, and they would still evoke these emotions. The lyrics themselves are, frankly, often impenetrable rambling word salad, but honestly I love that shit so I'm all for it.
This is due in heavy part to the production. I won't deny: I like my music to have a bit of atmosphere to it, so I already prefer crystal-clear production backed by synths, keys, or whatever the band needs to make their music work. So of course, I adore the mixing of this album, which both makes the guitars and vocals clearly legible and backs them up with tasteful synths and keys. The album depicts some strange glassy black room, and I sure feel like I'm in that place when I hear this album.
JT and Jesse's vocals are a perfect fit for the album. When he first entered the band, JT stuck a bit too much to his hardcore-ish mids, and while they form a good majority of his vocals on here, every once in a while he dips into highs and lows that show the extent of his vocal range, and in Divisionary he suddenly busts out absolutely gorgeous clean singing. Jesse handles the clean singing mostly, though, and I don't have much to say here. He's good. That's all I can say really. His cleans are never whiny or overly emo while retaining an emotional timber that makes him just a joy to listen to.
Trying to name standout sections is almost a fool's game. Where do I begin: Snowblood's glorious solo and breakdown, Divisionary's haunting ending, Remnant's pummeling intro riff, Vanish Canvas's soaring chorus? There's too many to list. The most surprising, at least, is the album closer, Memory Fiction. Rather than end the album on a long epic song (as they did on Augment and Drift with Dementia and The Hypnotist, respectively), the ST album ends on a cleans-only ballad. And you know what? I'm such a fucking fanboy for this band I don't care. It's beautiful, emotional, even includes a few delicious guitar licks and riffs, and ends the album amazingly.
Can I just take a second to talk about how amazing the song titles in this album are? Snowblood, Gungrave (a song which by the way is one of the best in the album yet I have not mentioned at all because the rest is also nearly as good and remembering every single good thing about this album is difficult), Electric Twilight, Scorpion Hymn, Shadow Autonomous, Memory Fiction. It's beautiful, frankly.
If I were writing this review for MA, I would rank this album 100% without a doubt. It is not perfect, no album is, and I personally would have liked a few more guitar solos, but a 100% doesn't mean "perfect", anyway. It means an album that is both amazing and fulfills its goals as best as it can, and ERRA does. It is a monumental achievement, and while I want to say "the only flaw is that it ends", it is so tightly crafted that I feel any addition would have to be extremely careful. Except maybe one or two more solos. Those would have been nice.
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Yeah I'm a pretty big fanboy of this album and band, frankly. Could ya guess? I don't think that the typical MA user would like it, but hey.
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