Genre : Mathcore, Cybergrind, Breakcore, Emoviolence, thall, Vaporwave,
Metalcore, Hyperpop, Hardcore
Released : April 28th, 2023
Label : Self-release / dontstress//flowerpress
FFO : Vein.fm, Soulkeeper, Chamber, Loathe, Vildhjarta, MouthBreather, DeathTrippa
If you've been paying attention (or if you read my review of their last year's EP "away") then you already know that fromjoy are one of the most exciting things currently happening in the underground hardcore-adjacent scenes.
Although their inception is very recent, having only started putting out material in early 2021, their sound has been remarkably unique and creative from the get-go, being reminiscent of Vein.fm or Code Orange's inter-mingling of chaotic hardcore and electronics while pushing the experimentation, genre-mashing and sonic aggression even further with a distinctively raw edge.
Right away, fromjoy prove that they have a very clear and defined idea of their band's conceptual identity through their artwork, lyrical themes and of course, their music ; which, when combined together, create this nightmarish, digital fever-dream world in which the lines between human consciousness and computer-generated existence become intertwined.
On their self-titled sophomore album, the Texan four-piece double-down on the fusion of hardcore-adjacent and electronic music sub-genres which already defined their previous material.
Album opener "accela" immediately displays the band's ferociousness and versatility as the track's ballistic mathgrind intro leads into a groove-heavy breakdown, backed by ambient electronic sound design akin to vaporwave or ambient.
A house-inspired beat welcomes hyperpop-like clean vocals for a temporary bridge section (if you can even call it that given how unconventional the song structures are) that erupts into a black metal flurry of blast-beats and high-pitched raspy vocals that eventually cohabit with the previously mentioned "cleaner" elements while drummer Jordan King's double-pedal relentlessly thunders onwards.
And this is just the two minutes-thirty opening track!
Don't be fooled by the album's rather short twenty-six minutes run-time.
Although most tracks don't exceed the two minute mark, every single one of them has so much going on for itself in terms of different bits and pieces taken from various styles of extreme and electronic music, creating a listening experience that is unpredictable and always in constant evolution.
Having produced their debut LP "it lingers" (and also being credited for additional production on this record) Connor Sweeney (ex-Loathe) adds his monstruously beefy, down-tuned guitar tone to the mix on "morbidly perfect", which alternates between frenetic mathcore and crushing low-end abusing breakdowns.
Electronic ambient layers of sound design also continue to exist in the background, alongside the inclusion of distorted samples, creating an uncanny glitch-like atmosphere.
In their outros, both aforementioned tracks include dialogue samples taken from the 1998 cyberpunk/techno-horror anime Serial Experiments Lain, which explores philosophical topics such as existentialism, reality, identity, mortality and communication by observing said topics through the lens of humanity's relationship with modern technology (mostly the world wide web), which expands and cements fromjoy's conceptual identity even further.
While fromjoy tend to never sit in place long enough to give the average listener enough time to grasp what is even happening and the constant genre-warping tends to be predominantly driven by frenzied technical prowess, they do have moments where their hardcore roots take the center stage and slow things down a little ; just enough to allow moshers to flail and spinkick to their heart's content during live shows.
One such instance is "docility", which makes space for a good old beatdown section in-between mathcore sliding panic chords and jungle breakbeats, before guest artist Damonteal Harris (PeelingFlesh) turns the track into slamming brutal death metal deviance, pig squeals included.
After a brief ambient breakcore interlude, "of the shapes of hearts and humans" is the album's longest cut, clocking in at over four minutes, and is perhaps its most emotional too, if not for album closer "Icarus", with its thall influenced outro breakdown peppered with sharp hits of spleen-ridden piano keys fading to a sample of //MACBOOK PRO's vaporwave remixed version of Sade's "Kiss Of Life". Sampleception!
Indeed, in spite of the relentless chaos, sonic aggression and odd genre-hybridization, there is more often than not a notable emotional sensitivity to fromjoy's music, mostly showcased by frontman Denny Dowling's impassioned vocal delivery, even during the band's most abrasive moments, that perfectly conveys the emotional distress that is present in the majority of fromjoy's lyrical content. Whether that is when addressing struggles of self-perception, dissociation or even police brutality on the track "machine".
Any clean vocal intervention of guitarist Giovanni Alaniz equally bolsters the impact of the emotional delivery conveyed by the band, in a more melodic and musical sense.
Many of the band's choices of melancholic ambient electronic sound design and inclusion of piano keys also play an important part in creating this aspect of vulnerability.
Especially given how much the band are influenced by vaporwave, both musically and visually with bassist (and producer) Kellan King's artworks ; a micro-genre which is intrinsically linked to nostalgia.
Even though fromjoy use their fictional nightmarish digital world to tackle more personal and realistic issues via lyrical imagery, the equal parts mathcore/breakcore scorcher "machine" is perhaps the one occasion where the simulation collapses long enough for social commentary as inflammatory as the track itself, targeted at the US police force, to break through.
Which then seemlessly bleeds into "seraph", featuring a standout, and decidedly appropriate guest feature from self-described "AI-assisted" futuristic hyperpop artist iRis.exe (whom you may have also encountered alongside Vatican last year and more recently, The Acacia Strain), whose breakbeat-backed airy vocal delivery darts in and out of the track's mayhem with great dexterity.
Fittingly, "fromjoy"'s band-name-dropping title-track functions as a condensed representation of who or what fromjoy are both as a band of people and a musical entity, while also being the ultimate self-referencing track, quoting the titles of their previous releases in chronological order to deliver one of the track's most cathartic moments :
"The sound of doubt, it lingers, only here, away from joy, so my hopes aren't shattered".
Did they just tease the name of their future release in the last part of that line? Who knows.
But seeing how prolific they've been, odds are it won't be long until we find out!
Have you ever wondered what Vildhjarta would sound like if they made 80's retro elevator music?
Yeah, me neither. But "Helios" answers that question as the snazzy vaporwave saxophone sample becomes the cornerstone for a thall breakdown that could make the 'Hjarta boys proud as the elevator motions itself through digital liminal space until it reaches its final destination : album closer "Icarus".
In reality, both tracks operate as one lengthier song and the same could be said to some extent for the entirety of the album, which tends to flow rather seemlessly from end to end.
True to its title, "Icarus" sees its narrator take a leap of faith in an attempt to emancipate themself from the restrictive chains referred to in previous tracks, which came in many forms, both mental and physical, from intense feelings of dissociation or self-deprecation to biased systemic oppression.
In the context of fromjoy's digital dystopian concept world, this could also be interpreted as the narrator "breaking free from the machine" or the "Mega-Sphere" (referenced in "morbidly perfect") and embracing their humanity, or on the contrary, lack thereof in order to transcend into something else entirely beyond physical form if we keep fromjoy's references to Serial Experiments Lain in mind.
This might be a bit of a stretch but both "fromjoy" and "away"'s cover art depict an Icarus-like figure. Except that on "away", the figure seems to be plummeting down from the sky, as per how the myth of Icarus unfolds, and appears more "human".
Whereas on "fromjoy"'s album cover, the figure looks more like some sort of digital avatar rather than being a tangible body, and it appears to be ascending upwards in a crucifixion pose, seemingly freeing itself from the wires and cables that hinder and chain its wings down.
In any case, everything seems to point at a cathartic moment of release and metamorphosis having been reached, both sonically and concept-wise.
If someone were to ask me what does the future of heavy music look (or rather sound) like ; fromjoy and this album specifically would be among the first things I would currently come to think of.
In a world where technology and internet culture are omnipresent, where artificial intelligence is more of a commodity than it is sci-fi and access to information, communication, digital work tools, etc. are quasi-instantaneous and attention spans shrink as instant-gratification becomes a norm for those privileged enough to have unlimited access to it, and our brains are more often than not completely over-stimulated with information ; fromjoy's relentlessly fast-paced, multi-faceted, shape-shifting style of heavily electronic extreme music, overloading the listener's brain with genre mashups and switches almost feels like a musical representation of our current age in which the digital reigns supreme and has infiltrated itself into almost every aspect of our lives on a daily basis.
The musical genres fromjoy choose to incorporate inside of their sprawling network of sounds are also representative, to a degree, of the state of contemporary music in this "digital age", embracing the futuristic glitch-like sounds of different electronic sub-genres (jungle, breakcore, ambient...) as well as internet-born genres and sub-cultures such as vaporwave and hyperpop ; while still using "pre-digital", more organic styles of extreme music (hardcore, mathcore, grindcore, metalcore...) as the project's beating heart, yet also acknowledging its recent developments with the inclusion of thall elements, itself being a hyper-specific sub-genre debatably born from internet culture as well.
Thankfully though, "fromjoy" does not share the negative, mind-numbing symptoms that come with digital media over-consumption.
In fact, quite the contrary as it genuinely proves to be one of the most refreshing, electrifying and foreward-thinking releases in hardcore/mathcore/metalcore this year and adds its own valuable stone to the edifice that is the re-shaping of heavy music as we know it, with eyes fixated on what tomorrow could be made of.
While the observation of ancient greek philosopher Heraclitus may forever remain the only universal truth we will ever know, that the only constant is change ; even if the future and its unknowns often seem more frightening and daunting than anything, with it come new, equally exciting possibilities.
Something which fromjoy seem to be aware of in crafting their amalgamation of musical styles which transcends genres, currents and epochs ; only existing in a world of its own.
