Eighteen months after the release of their fifth album, Australian metalcore merchants In Hearts Wake have nicked a trick from the Roadrunner Records playbook of the nineties with the Kaliyuga Booster Pack (UNFD) and are re-releasing their 2020 opus with a handful of goodies ahead of hitting the road in 2022. 

To be fair to the quintet, with all touring plans for Kaliyuga shelved by the pandemic, and only one show under their belts on this run (represented here by five live tracks), this refreshing little addition to the album does indeed provide a boost. 

Kicking off with ‘Dogma’, continuing the vein of IHW collaborations by teaming up with Alpha Wolf, the track is a low-slung, nu-metal influenced stormer, snapping its canine teeth with both bark and bite on point, a genuine new anthem for the band. ‘Torn In Two’ follows, a dramatic string-and-synth-flecked slow-paced track that recalls early King 810 as Jake Taylor‘s snarls take a step into the spoken and spat out territory. ‘War’ brings in the third side of the band’s triumvirate of styles; bassist Kyle Erich‘s cleans take this 5FDP-meets-While She Sleeps stomp into a post-Linkin Park territory.

The three newies stand up strong, with ‘Dogma’ especially up there with any individual track in IHW’s catalogue, and show a more straightforward approach than the band usually take. It has to be said, it is a slimming down that suits them. The benefit of things being rounded out by raw live versions of four of the better main tracks from the full album plus intro ‘Crisis’ is to be debated (although the eight tracks would have worked really well as a standalone EP), but the three  new originals are a welcome addition that means you should favour the Booster Pack version of Kaliyuga when accessing via your streaming service of choice or if you’re looking to buy.

Buy the album here: https://unfd.lnk.to/Kaliyuga

7 / 10

STEVE TOVEY