This album was released on May 17^th, 2019 on Greyscale Records.

With the amount of metalcore coming out today, there really has to be something that makes a band stand out from its contemporaries. The new trend seems to be making things as overtly complex as possible while adding different hardcore, progressive, and industrial elements in the music (see Jesus Piece, Vein, Code Orange, etc.). Diamond Construct, a young Australian band, almost fell in the hole of being lumped with these artists and lost in the wave of the new up-and-coming heavy-hitters, but they have just enough fresh sound to give themselves a leg up on everyone else. With raw, belted vocals that have that hardcore edge, to absolutely brutal guitarwork and pounding drums, the band’s debut album is one that has already received acclaim for its drift into atmospheric metalcore and descent into beatdown hardcore.

The radio tunes into the opening of “Animus”, the album’s opener, and the band wastes no time getting into the thick of the absolutely disgusting mix. The guitars are very clear as they shred through the course of the record, and the drums never let up, save for some atmospheric passages such as the dichotomous clean section of “Dreamcatcher”. Drummer Alex Ford does a fantastic job of pushing the frenetic pace even further with his up-tempo beats, and the guitarwork by Braden Groundwater and Adam Kilpatrick doesn’t lag behind. Everything is fast-paced, everything is fiery and passionate, and the soft passages serve as small resting points before the action resumes.

Kynan Groundwater’s lyrics are very well-composed, and as a metalcore vocalist, the overarching themes of light and darkness, blood, sweat, and tears, and lament and loss often take center stage content-wise. Groundwater’s vocal delivery is similar to many other vocalists coming out in the scene right now, most notably Dealer’s current vocalist Aidan Holmes (ex-Alpha Wolf). The current trend of semi-yelling verses with occasional gutturals and highs is becoming a tad overplayed, and Groundwater fell into this trap. This is by no means calling his delivery bad, but rather, a predictable and stale performance that has been heard in many other musical efforts. The clean passages suffer from the same situation, but again, the performance is strong. “Morphine Eyes” showcases the singing ability of Groundwater and makes for a nice change of pace in the otherwise-stagnant vocal presentation.

Twelve tracks and forty-minutes later, the journey Diamond Construct has procured ends, and the effort put forth by the four-piece is well-documented in their small discography (one extended play preceding this album). Where other bands are okay with putting out some filler songs among their singles and crowd favorites, these Aussies put their heart into all twelve tracks, and it shows. Expect Diamond Construct to make some bigger moves in the future, as this album should be soon noted for helping pioneer the new style of metalcore.

Rating: 8/10

Favorite Songs: “Submerged”, “Hypno”, “Attitude”