Varials have been through quite a few changes since their early days, through their acclaimed 2017 and 2019 albums Pain Again and In Darkness respectively, up until more recently in 2022 with the conceptual and more experimental Scars For You To Remember, most notably due to a change of vocalists across releases. Throughout these changes however, Varials have never lost sight of their vision and have stayed the course when it comes to their sound, which exists on the heavier, bludgeoning end of the metalcore spectrum, crossing over into beatdown and hardcore territory with nu-metal tinges.
Their vision has perhaps never been more laser-focused than it is on new album WHERE THE LIGHT LEAVES, which introduces new vocalist Skyler Conder (CELL) and who rapidly proves himself to be a perfect fit for the band’s brand of pissed off savagery. As the album boots up with ominous, distorted electronic sound design, the opening title track booms to life with crushing, claustrophobic heaviness, well and truly setting the tone for the rest of this new chapter with renewed energy and purpose. The venom in Conder’s vocal delivery strikes as being authentic, raw and genuine and things only get heavier with a well-placed band name drop followed by a series of breakdowns that punch the eardrums with the force of a close proximity detonation. The track also introduces the conceptual idea for WHERE THE LIGHT LEAVES as being this suffocating purgatorial space of penance rife with suffering through its lyrics.
WHERE THE LIGHT LEAVES wastes no time in showing its cards and presenting the core of its strength. Most notably the sound design and production choice, which does a phenomenal job of making everything sound overwhelmingly hefty and hit like a ton of bricks. Josh Schroeder’s production work here shares a similar quality to Buster Odeholm’s style which tends to focus on high percussive impact. Although in this case, the “thall” stylings and experimental outlandish oddities are replaced by doubling down on density and striking power behind every instrument, to the point where it almost feels like the sound goes beyond the threshold of what our ears should be able to withstand, especially during its explosive breakdowns.
The approach to writing for the instrumentals also seems to have been done with the intention of putting sheer impact first and foremost, be it Shane Lyons’ guitar, Mike Foley’s bass or Sean Rauchut’s drums ; everything is designed to beat the listener senseless and knock the air out with the effectiveness of a nasty well placed punch to the gut. Skyler Conder’s vocals are another major strength and driving force throughout the span of the record, with a believable grit behind the overflowing rage most notably on tracks like ‘No Lie Untouched’ or ‘Blissful End’ or genuine emotional unraveling in tracks such as ‘The Hurt Chamber’ or ‘Romance II’.
But with such a focus on excessive force and heaviness, is there not a risk of running out of fuel by the time the album reaches its close? Truth be told, the effectiveness of the band’s clobbering approach does begin to gradually lessen over the course of the album’s first half and things threaten to feel slightly too same-y from ‘Illusions of Loss’ to ‘Your Soul Feeds’ despite such an efficiently striking start. ‘The Hurt Chamber’ arrives just in time to add some welcome variety, providing a standout moment at the album’s midway point by hitting a perfect balance between eerie, velvety darkness and the pre-established pummelling aggression and animalistic rampage. The sampling of the intro of Nemertines‘ ‘Bitter Tears’ works wonderfully to create this fragile balance of light and dark which the track builds upon as a guiding thread and creates a convincing sense of claustrophobia.
Atmospheric, melodic interlude ‘[wouldyoufollowme]’ which includes faint accoustic guitars and clean vocals follows up to extend the break from the onslaught, and although it is an enjoyable moment of transition, perhaps having it placed differently could have benefited the album’s overall pacing. The two hit combo of ‘Silent Demise’ and ‘Blissful End’ that ensues strikes with renewed intensity and lead to another standout moment of the album with ‘Romance II’, a direct continuation musically and thematically of its first installment found on In Darkness. While 2019’s ‘Romance’ felt darkly euphoric, ‘Romance II’ is a hurt, frustrated aftermath where «You bring me closer to god» has turned into the emotionally charged pondering “Am I closer to god without you?” The album reaches a close similarly to how it started, with punishing aggression in the forms of ‘Metanoia’ and arguably the heaviest track of the album, ‘I’ll Find the Dark’ before fading away with second ambient track ‘[intothequiet]’ whose feedback, distorted electronics and quasi-unintelligible radio frequency seem to loop back into the album’s opening.
WHERE THE LIGHT LEAVES is genuinely impressive in its execution as well as its search for excessive, hulking heaviness and lavish brutality. One could even say, it sets a new standard production-wise within the realms of metallic hardcore reliant on utmost sonic devastation. However, in being so preoccupied with creating blunt force trauma in auditive form, it does slightly suffer from being too one-dimensional at times, generally offering more of the same thing once the shock value subsides. It does truly shine though when it succeeds in offering more variety and taking more risks by implementing elements that could have potentially dampened the album’s overall ferocity but the band are successful in maintaining their grip even in those more vulnerable moments. A more nuanced balance of such things with slightly better pacing could have turned WHERE THE LIGHT LEAVES into absolute perfection. Frustratingly, that perfection is within arm’s reach.
To their credit, despite these complaints, WHERE THE LIGHT LEAVES is probably the most cohesive Varials album when it comes to sticking with a conceptual vision and while previously, with Scars For You To Remember that vision was met with mixed reactions, WHERE THE LIGHT LEAVES sticks the landing far better and is more convincing as a whole.