In the last few years, hardcore has seen its biggest surge of interest since the 1980s. Bands like Turnstile, Show Me the Body, Knocked Loose, Soul Glo, Scowl, and Zulu are reaching sizable audiences. And the racially diverse lineups of some of these groups, including Philadelphia metalcore group Jesus Piece, suggest that the perception of the genre as a safe space for white dudes who want to punch people in the pit is also changing.
Jesus Piece’s sophomore effort, …So Unknown, is more aggressive and twitchier than the band’s 2018 debut, Only Self. The group specializes in brutal beatdown hardcore spiced with electronic atmospherics and elements of several different subgenres of metal. Singer Aaron Heard’s voice, for instance, evokes death metal’s “Cookie Monster vocals,” while the band’s signature stop-and-start guitars adopt the grind of groove metal.
Indeed, Jesus Piece embraces the full breadth of the genre’s chaotic fury, but rather than charge full-speed ahead at all times, they switch up the tempos, rending the album’s heaviest moments even more impactful. Many of the songs, like “Fear of Failure,” dissolve into breakdowns, slowing down to give breathing room to the band’s rhythm guitar, bass, and drums.
Drummer Luis Aponte is the M.V.P. here (on “Stolen Life,” he almost breaks into the “Amen break”), but the band as a whole is remarkably tight, working in unison throughout the album. The songs never stick to a single texture: Occasionally, every instrument functions as percussion, while at other times they all melt into a wall of noise.
Yet, most of Jesus Piece’s experimental tendencies are confined to intros and outros on …So Unknown. The album feels more defined by genre than the band’s past work. But there’s no denying that the anger running through it is contagious, and creates a stark contrast to the majority of recent pop-rock, which carries a mood of depressed resignation.
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