If you’ve had your eye on the metalcore sphere over the past few years, you’ll almost certainly have come across Texan quartet Gore.
Their third EP in three years …Then You Cannot Love Me arrives as a companion to last year’s If You Do Not Fear Me…, and while it might continue in title, sonically it’s a very different beast. Where IYDNFM… was aggressive, featuring some of their heaviest work to date with the likes of ‘Sepsis’ and ‘Wrath’, …TYCLM reaches for more melodic pastures with some of their most sonically diverse songwriting yet.
Opener ‘What You Paid For’ hits a churning riff immediately, dropping out in short order for Haley Roughton’s voice to shine. The verses are delicate and yearning; it’s a slower open, rather than the likes of ‘Pray’ that opened their debut EP with furious screams and thunderous riffing. That’s a hallmark of …TYCLM, expanding Gore.’s sound from what was initially established on their first two EPs. Lead single ‘Lead Me To The Slaughter’ has, as we’ve come to expect, an earworm hook in its chorus that’ll stick in your head for days after and is ripe for singalongs from small rooms to the arenas they just supported, I Prevail in.
There are some big swings for Gore. here, too. The fourth track, ‘Crucified’, has a sassy bass line from Devin Birchfield that recurs throughout, with a sway and drive that propels the song and is a big departure sonically from what they’ve done before. It works great, folding new sounds into their repertoire smoothly. ‘Walk On Water’ is similarly bouncy, with switches to half-time used to great effect. The biggest swing, though, is reserved for ‘Alone’, a power pop ballad that closes out the EP in striking fashion.
Following the haunting ‘Hallowed Ground’ with another slower song is an interesting choice, but it’s one that pays off because of how different the two are. While the former is a more typically metalcore ballad, ‘Alone’ utilises the poppier side of Haley’s voice along with handclap snares and booming bass drum. It takes a couple of minutes before guitars enter, and they’re much less riff-focused initially, swirling and acting as something of a force multiplier for the vocals. It’s a much more experimental direction for Gore., one that they’ve indicated reflects where they want to take the band in the future, and as a companion piece to If You Do Not Fear Me… it’s a fascinating look at the two sides that make up the band and where they could go in the future.