#progressive-metalcore — Public Fediverse posts

I want to apologize in advance for delaying the biggest review of the summer that we all have been waiting for. While I know everyone here is chomping at the bit for more Christian-adjacent metalcore, you need to wait patiently for another moment so I can introduce the legendary August Burns Red. Jokes aside, the veteran genre stalwarts have released their tenth record, Season of Surrender, and to my surprise, as a longtime fan of the act despite their religious inception, S.O.S. is one of their most brutal albums to date. August Burns Red turns to the past to inspire its sound for the future, but is this shallow nostalgia-bait or an evolution of the band’s most refined records?

August Burns Red is the type of band that will sour metalheads on site. Formed in the heyday of Christian metalcore, the band has been chugging along for decades with its trademark sound. As someone who found them after already cutting my teeth on acts like Mastodon, Gojira, High on Fire, and many more, their undeniable technical skill, blistering breakdowns, and heartfelt execution caught my ear. Their 2009 record, Constellations, remains as affecting as ever and serves as a north star for the band to this day. Now, with Season of Surrender, they have finally moved out of the era of genre-switchups and downright inspired musical interludes into something more efficient, heavy, and pointed. Matt Greiner remains the highlight of a band loaded with talent. His rhythm, force, and pure technical skill without resorting to metal cliches is the nucleus of a band that has written music together for two decades. August Burns Red has featured the same members since 2006, with nine of its ten records sporting the same lineup. This consistently carries over to the music, and everything about Season of Surrender feels effortless. Guitarists JB Brubaker and Brent Rambler have remained underrated throughout their career due to the Christian-metalcore label, but Season of Surrender is full of brutal breakdowns that would make even the heaviest deathcore bands blush, while retaining the rhythm and pacing that lets them truly hit hard.

Season of Surrender contains some of August Burns Red’s heaviest material to date, clearly harkening back to The Messengers’ days. While its Christian trappings have become basically agnostic (only a few members of the band are still self-identified believers), Season of Surrender still contains the band’s trademark positivity. This trope doesn’t always serve the songs, and the lyrics on “Cerebral Malfunction” feel particularly tone-deaf, seemingly poking fun at therapy. “Sonic Salvation” revives a classic cliché by using music as an escape from life and stress. The song itself is solid, but I cannot help but cringe at some of the refrains. Despite these stumbles, Jake Luhrs seems to only get better and better as a vocalist with each record, and Season of Surrender shows his widest range while hitting the heaviest lows in his career, like on the ending of “Legions”.

Season of Surrender is one of their most consistent and heavy records since their best releases, and while the band has rarely, if ever, stumbled, this record is stuffed with brutality. “Forged by Failure” features an opening riff that is so groovy and simultaneously heavy that it will surely end up as a concert finale. “Den of Thieves” is one of the best tracks the band has penned in its career, and “Behemoth” is an absolute crusher. Outside of a few lyrical stutters, Season of Surrender is mostly unblemished. The album is slim and trim for a band that usually lets things get a little bloated, and at nine tracks and one musical interlude, the album breezes by.

Season of Surrender is a perfect example of August Burns Red at its tightest and most driven. Despite the genre label, the band continues to challenge the technical skill and sheer brutality of most modern core acts while showcasing a dedication to rhythm and emotion. Season of Surrender won’t likely change the minds of those who have written the act off, but it’s a great starting point with its parallels to early records. Season of Surrender is a solid metalcore record that will likely be a favorite of longtime fans, and if you can brush off the lingering scent of Jesus, it may just be a metalcore record worth your time.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 4| Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Fearless Records
Websites: Bandcamp | Official Site
Releases Worldwide: June 5th, 2026

Allt – Ataraxia [24-bit HD audio]
#Djent #HumanitysLastBreath #Metal #Metalcore #SilentPlanet #djent #monuments #postmetalcore #progressivemetal #progressivemetalcore #tesseract #vildhjarta #Karlskoga
CC BY-SA (#CreativeCommons Attribution Share Alike) #ccmusic
https://allt.bandcamp.com/album/ataraxia-24-bit-hd-audio

Over a decade removed from the djent boom of the early 2010s, stylistic flagbearers Periphery have settled into a comfortable routine, periodically regrouping from side projects and business ventures to release a new record every few years. Cracks in that formula began to show on 2023’s Periphery V: Djent Is Not a Genre, where the compositions started to feel both formulaic and scattershot. Their new release, A Pale White Dot, is their first non-numbered album since the two-part Juggernaut (2015). It seems intended as a departure from their established release pattern and a chance to reconnect with a more instinctive, creatively driven approach written from a “top-down” perspective shaped by themes of isolation and loneliness. Periphery remains one of my favorite bands (even if I find myself stuffed into the occasional AMG locker for this opinion), and I’m always excited by the prospect of their technically minded, melodic, and smartly written take on progressive metalcore. By centering this record around a more focused concept and shedding some of the expectations attached to their numbered releases, can this league of extraordinary “djentlemen” deliver another satisfying dose of syncopated brilliance?

As Juggernaut did for Periphery I and II, A Pale White Dot streamlines the maximalist hyper-technicality of Periphery III–V in service of its concept, even if that comes at the expense of what once made the band so compelling. Periphery helped define the 2010s metalcore formula of “djent riff + soaring clean chorus + breakdown,” a blueprint that would eventually shape modern heavyweights like Sleep Token and Spiritbox. Their music could pivot seamlessly between dizzying guitar acrobatics and polished melodic hooks without sacrificing momentum, turning even the most familiar structures into sprawling narrative journeys. A Pale White Dot is the first record where this strength fades into the background, with a diminished presence of the “pure-riffery” and progressive elements the band is known for. With a few exceptions (the psychotic opening riff of “Malevolent” or the bombastic bridge of “Everyone Dies Alone”), a set of shorter songs is largely held together by straightforward chugs and massive vocal-forward choruses. Periphery still sounds like themselves, but the overall shape of these songs is far closer to run-of-the-mill “Octanecore” than ever before. For the first time in their career, it feels like Periphery is merely iterating on popular sounds, rather than pushing them forward.

I’d describe the songcraft on A Pale White Dot as frustratingly competent. Periphery clearly knows what they’re doing every step of the way, and the band still finds ways to inject personality and variety into familiar formulas, even as their material sounds increasingly more generic. As always, the musicianship is absurdly sharp across the board, and once you acclimate to his squeaky pop cleans, vocalist Spencer Sotelo proves to be an essential ingredient in this polyrhythmic pie. His delivery feels more powerful than ever, shifting effortlessly between varied harsh vocals and emphatic arena-ready hooks. “Mr. God” and “Subhuman” land as earth-shaking djentcore bruisers, but beyond this, each track demonstrates a surprising diversity of moods. Subdued, vocal-driven tracks erupt into blackened tremolo passages (“Obsession”) or ludicrous mid-song breakdowns (“Carry On”), while songs like “Talk” and “Heaven on High” recapture the band’s classic sense of breakneck momentum, swerving between entertaining djent, crushing breakdowns, and massive refrains. Despite these turns, the whole package feels decidedly safe. The different song sections arrive with predictable timing, and certain chorus chord progressions/melodies begin to feel so familiar that some climactic moments lose their impact, especially when a weaker hook like “Unlocking” fails to justify the buildup.

Whereas my favorite moments on past Periphery records tend to come from huge, cathartic climaxes, some of the strongest passages on A Pale White Dot instead lean into understated nuance. “Blackwall” follows in the footsteps of “Silhouette” from Periphery V as a synth-pop-leaning earworm, but its most compelling moment is an expansive IDM-influenced middle section where synth washes and digital percussion fully take over. The titular closing track is another quiet highlight, built around a delicate acoustic guitar melody wrapped in subtle electronic atmosphere. There are other standout sections, like the wisteria-tinged progression of “Neon Valley’s” chorus or the emotional guitar solo of “Everyone Dies Alone.” These highs serve as memorable moments that anchor repeat listens, even if no single track quite reaches the heights of the band’s very best work.

A Pale White Dot is an album that’s easy to admire on a craftsmanship level, but hard for me to connect with. Periphery remain highly accomplished musicians and effective songwriters. As a fan of their style, there are still plenty of moments and tracks to enjoy throughout. At the same time, this record marks a noticeable streamlining of their sound, trading much of their trademark progressiveness and technical intricacy for more straightforward material that sits closer to contemporary metalcore than much of their earlier work. It’s far from bad, but I’d be hard-pressed to pick it over any other Periphery album.

Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: N/A | Format Reviewed: Stream to end all streams
Label: 3Dot Recordings
Websites: periphery.net | facebook.com/PeripheryBand
Releases Worldwide: May 15th, 2026

#NowPlaying #InventAnimate
One of my favourite albums from 2023. Still kicks ass 🤘🏻#metal #metalcore #ProgressiveMetalcore
https://album.link/c2dp7dwv5svrx

Mit eine der besten Progressive Metalcore Bands ❤

BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME – Overture (Bonus Track) (OFFICIAL AUDIO)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbMxIlr44Mk

#ProgressiveMetalcore #ProgressiveMetal #Metalcore #Metal #Music

For @loewe's #MittwochMetalMix, a healthy dose of #djent:

#Unprocessed: Angel

https://album.link/t/449276750

#ProgressiveMetalcore

FFO #TheContortionist #Johari #TesseracT

LEPRETHERE (Bielorússia) presenta nou EP: "No Future" #Leprethere #ProgressiveMetalcore #Octubre2025 #Bielorússia #NouEp #Metall #Metal #MúsicaMetal #MetalMusic

If we can agree that this counts as prog, then it's a fit for @DXMacGuffin's #ProgTuesday:

#Vianova: Hit It!

https://album.link/i/1834615124

#Mathcore #MelodicMetalcore #ProgressiveMetalcore

FFO #TheCallousDaoboys #TheDillingerEscapePlan #ThankYouScientist

Beste Progressive Metalcore auf diesem Planeten 😍

BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME – The Blue Nowhere (OFFICIAL VIDEO)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgCBTemVY5I

#ProgressiveMetalcore #Metalcore #Metal #Music

FIRE FROM HEAVEN (Estats Units) presenta nou single: "Drown 'Em Out" #FireFromHeaven #SymphonicMetal #ProgressiveMetalcore #Juny2025 #EstatsUnits #NouSingle #Metall #Metal #MúsicaMetal #MetalMusic

#NowPlaying #Intercessor

One of the best albums I recently found! It pushes several buttons and not a "one good song on the album" kinda release.
Something for #djent #metalcore #progressivemetal #ProgressiveMetalcore fans. Loooot of breakdowns!

Giovanni's Scorn by Intercessor (https://song.link/de/i/1777611671)

Chaos in Paradise – Transversal
#Djentcore #Metal #ProgressiveRock #cinematic #deathcore #djent #electronicmusic #epicmetal #epicmusic #mathmetal #mathrock #metalcore #progressivedeathcore #progressivemetal #progressivemetalcore #thall #Boston
CC BY-NC-ND (#CreativeCommons Attribution Non Commercial No Derivatives)
https://coretothecore.bandcamp.com/album/transversal

It's wild that Juggernaut Alpha/Omega will be 10 years old in less than two weeks. 🙃

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRBkVp_bB_E

#music #progressivemetalcore

Dennis Martensson – The Infinity Construct Chapter 3
#Djent #Metal #Metalcore #ProceduralGeneration #ProgressiveMetal #ProgressiveMetalcore #djent #metalcore #proceduralgeneration #procedurallygenerated #progressivemetal #Stockholm
CC BY-SA (#CreativeCommons Attribution Share Alike)
https://dennismartensson.bandcamp.com/album/the-infinity-construct-chapter-3

Dennis Martensson – Archives: Volume 3
#Djent #Metal #Metalcore #ProgressiveMetal #ProgressiveMetalcore #djent #metalcore #proceduralgeneration #procedurallygenerated #progressivemetal #Stockholm
CC BY-NC-SA (#CreativeCommons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike)
https://dennismartensson.bandcamp.com/album/archives-volume-3

Allt – Rupture Stem Pack
#Metal #Metalcore #djent #postmetalcore #progressivemetal #progressivemetalcore #Karlskoga
CC BY-SA (#CreativeCommons Attribution Share Alike)
https://allt.bandcamp.com/album/rupture-stem-pack

For #MittwochMetalMix by @Kitty:

#GrayscaleSeason: Still Hurts

https://song.link/spffz94mc9jzf

#Djent #ProgressiveMetalcore

FFO #Catsclaw #DiamondConstruct #VoidOfVision

Let's see, what else do we have here for @Kitty's #MittwochMetalMix...ah, this one is excellent:

#Allt: Memory of Light

https://song.link/zwq2pm4ksq5zx

#Djent #ProgressiveMetalcore #Thall

FFO #TheContortionist #HumanitysLastBreath #Polaris

For @DXMacGuffin's #ProgTuesday:

#Allt: Remnant

https://song.link/s0426xvtgvppk

#Djent #ProgressiveMetalcore

FFO #Aviana #InventAnimate #SilentPlanet

And finally, something a bit more aggressive for @DXMacGuffin's #ProgTuesday:

#Allt: Echoes

https://song.link/jqzvfvb6ftzmb

#Djent #ProgressiveMetalcore #Thall

FFO #TheContortionist #Polaris #TransitMethod