CHUGCORE EXCLUSIVE REVIEW: Noose – What Has Become [EP/2015]
Artist: Noose
Album: What Has Become – EP
It hangs before your eyes, swaying back and forth—deceptively calm and insidiously inviting. It is the product of negativity and depression; the result of your psyche breaking under the weight of years of the world’s abuse and aggression. It begs to wrap itself around your neck and squeeze until the life you so desperately clung to is forced from your lungs and out of your mouth in a pathetic, fatal and final exhalation. It is Floridian nu-metal-turned-Deathcore act, Noose—or more specifically, their debut EP, What Has Become. Constructed from crushing heaviness and skin-splitting speed, tinted with bounciness and technicality alike, What Has Become is a unique experience bound to oppress every ounce of positivity the listener has, making death look not like an escape, but like a reward for agonizing through life’s strife.
Noose expertly combine driving, energetic metal and nu-metal with decimating deathcore to provide a fun, furious and forceful release. What Has Become is sharp and sinister from the first splashy seconds of “Loose Ends,” where percussionist Dylan Wolf attacks the listener with a rapid oscillation between jarring blast beats and pummeling, punchy kick drum patterns. Wolf is the dictator behind Noose’s noisy, dialectic onslaught. Tracks like “Loose Ends” see Wolf bouncing back and forth between slow, sludgy grooves and quick, jostling beats—while “Prey” and “Grassy Knoll” are more abusive examples of the former. “Grassy Knoll,” though not without moments of sporadic speed, relies heavily on Wolf’s ability to cave in the listener’s head with bold, blunt drumming and sharp, cracking snare hits—serving as a perfect canvas for guitarists Austin McGraw and Dylan Apuzzioto carve deep, gushing cuts across with their filthy, furious fretwork. Where Wolf is a strong, prudent backbone for Noose, McGraw and Apuzzio give What Has Become its instrumental individuality. “Walter White” is home to riffs and grooves more addictive and lethal than meth itself, while “Loose Ends” is an incredible testament to McGraw and Appuzio’s diversity. Cutting deeply and without restraint one moment, and bouncing with explosive energy and incredible dissonance the next, McGraw and Appuzio are able to work with any style and speed Wolf throws their way, allowing the trio to work with incredible synchronicity and sinister lethality.
Noose is the kind of band with instrumentals insane enough to whisper thoughts of self-harm into the listener’s ear—but it’s their vocal element that is bold and belligerent enough to actually instigate injury and suicidal tendency. Front man AnthonyAngencia is anger incarnate—the product of social disgust and severe loathing copulating and giving rise to intense aural agony. Throughout the duration of What Has Become, Angencia reigns with a bitter, burly growl that scrapes the listener’s ears raw as if his vocals were sandpaper. “Loose Ends” is an excellent example of Angencia’s lower register—complimenting the band’s down tuned aggression and contrasting their quicker portions with equally tasteful expertise. Tracks like “Endless” and “Grassy Knoll,” however, see Angencia at his finest: here, his low, raspy growls go hand in hand with the band’s low, slow breakdowns and girthy grooves. “Prey” is another example of Angencia doing what he does best—as the bridge leading into the track’s climactic, crushing chugfest is catchier than the clap and more violent than ten Arnold Schwarzenegger films. “Prey” is Angencia’s mosh pit anthem that is sure to turn even the kindest hearts into malicious murderers.
Between catchy, crushing nu-metallic breakdowns and splintering sequences of deathcore technicality and heaviness, What Has Become is a prodigal effort that lets Noose stand out amid a congested scene that is already offering some of the nation’s finest heavy bands. With punishing premonition and careful, critical songwriting, Noose have crafted a prodigal release that weaves metal, hardcore and deathcore together with the skill of a veteran seamstress. If “Loose Ends” alone isn’t enough to convince you, then by the time you get to “Endless,” you’ll be actually wishing that Noose’s debut EP was indeed unending. Noose are as smart as they are heavy—as unique as they are crushing—making them a band that any kind of heavy music fanatic will want to keep an eye on.
The second you subject yourself to Noose’s What Has Become, you are a dead man. Grooves so slippery that they slid in your head unnoticed are amplified by incredible aggression and boundless brutality—making Noose many things, but especially lethal.
9.5/10
For Fans Of: Feign, Rex, Scavenger, We Have Been Compromised
By: Connor Welsh
