Fiddlehead never intended to write a trilogy of albums. The Boston based post-hardcore supergroup delivered their debut LP, Springtime and Blind, in 2018, and went on to follow it up in 2021 with Between the Richness. Each of these albums explored grief in a distinct way, with the former dealing with the immediate aftermath of the passing of vocalist Patrick Flynn’s father, whilst the latter took a more hopeful approach and examined how life continued on for Flynn in the wake of this event, especially given that he was now a father himself.
Now with Death Is Nothing To Us, Fiddlehead elect to grapple with the paradoxical allure of sorrow, the weight of holding on to burdens, and the importance of simply feeling your sadness instead of seeking an answer to remedy it. In doing so, Flynn pulls on references as varied as the Roman philosopher Lucretius to the hardcore punk pioneers Bad Brains, culminating in a body of work that, whilst short in size, feels rich in depth.
“With ‘Death Is Nothing To Us’, Fiddlehead elect to grapple with the paradoxical allure of sorrow”
Flynn’s vocals are unrepentant throughout, with a sheer desperate ferocity that exudes a sense of catharsis; the exploration of those aforementioned themes is all the more compelling because of this. Despite this relentless aggression, Flynn doesn’t dominate the soundscape, with his vocals placed well in the mix, and plenty of time and space provided to show the instrumental talents of the other band members.
‘Sleepyhead’ packs a fantastic groove, thanks to some stellar percussive passages provided by Shawn Costa, whilst ‘True Hardcore (II)’ features impressive duelling musicianship between the bass and guitar lines, which weave in and out of one another with crackling energy. ‘The Woes’ stands out as a particularly great highlight, with its danceable, driving rhythms combined with simplistic yet driving riffs that truly hammer home the band’s 90’s alternative influences.
The hardcore roots of the band really begin to shine at various other points of the album, such as the raucous opener ‘The Deathlife’, and the ferociously scrappy yet anthemic ‘Sullenboy’, which packs a particularly great build-up into a blazing final third.
“A compelling and cathartic collection of post-hardcore songs”
However, sometimes those deep hardcore roots trip this album up. With such a clear focus on a concept, the brevity and relentlessness of this album sometimes means that it can feel that themes, whilst explored decently, could do with some further time dedicated to them. Flynn is an enigmatic and engaging lyricist, and the musicianship shows great talent; it is unfortunate that there simply just isn’t quite enough of it.
On top of that, whilst the band showcase their capacity for versatility, such as on the surprisingly tender slow-burner ‘Give It Time (II)’, the album does feel at times a little one note in a stylistic sense. The performances are all well executed, but the lack of diversity between ends up leaving the album as a whole feeling less impactful than it wants to be
However, it would be incorrect to describe this album as lacking, because what is here is a compelling and cathartic collection of post-hardcore songs that are guaranteed to be well-received by fans of the genre and its adjacent styles. Fiddlehead never intended to release more than one album, but three albums in, it’s clear that the outfit has something important to provide to the scene. Let’s hope they can stumble across reason for another album.