Out via the British extreme music-centered label Church Road Records, UK Hardcore five-piece unit Still In Love launches a debut full-length entitled Recovery Language – with thematic focuses circulating around the discourses of generation trauma, catharsis, emotional release, and personal boundaries. Highly introspective and deeply rooted in raw, intense emotions that speak of resilience, the aggression-laden UK Hardcore undertones of this album fit the recurring themes so well, with a hint of Post-Hardcore influences as well.
Still In Love is quite the supergroup themselves – consisting members of varied renowned names in the UKHC scene, namely Dead Swans, Throats, Brutality Will Prevail, Last Witness and Bring Me The Horizon. Before this debut LP, they were previously known for their EP series entitled Withdrawal Symptoms, which gained coverage within the UK Hardcore scene. On this debut, they face personal struggles head-on with full-blown tenacity using the restless soundscapes they create; fusing altogether vicious riffs and poignant melodies, as well as intricate rhythms that also appear dynamic.
Being all-around emotionally driven and charged, the contrast between solemnity and defiance on this album is a captivating one – their solid, meticulously built sonic identity have received comparisons to some Deathwish Inc./Bridge Nine rosters and/or ex-rosters – namely Cursed, Blacklisted, and Have Heart. But as for me, having been an all-around Deathwish Inc. connoisseur back in my university freshman days, I can fairly sense some Touché Amoré and Modern Life Is War-type hints somehow. As the dynamic rhythms keep shifting from belligerent aggressions to sentimentally melodic passages along with how the album progresses, here, the listeners can explore through the deeper cores of the very personal, emotional journeys revolving around human emotions that Still In Love has to offer – deeply reflective and introspective, but still leave room for brutality to persist in its own respective ways.
Despite being relatively new in the ever-dynamic sphere of the UK Hardcore scene, Still In Love counts as one of the transformative defining forces in the scene with their raw sonic expressions and full-blown boldness to bare their souls and present vulnerabilities in a striking way – one that offers both ferocious energy and introspective depth as well as precision. Sonically, this could pass as a more evolved version of their previous sounds, too.
Buy the album here:
https://stillinlovehc.bandcamp.com/album/recovery-language
8 / 10
RALKA SKJERSETH
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