REVIEW: Cell – I Will Not Be Found Here After [2025]
Artist: Cell
Album: I Will Not Be Found Here After
I Will Not Be Found Here After
The message loops; it is the first set of intelligible words the listener hears pressing play, and the last set of syllables screamed into the listener’s ears as the record concludes. It permeates—digging through the eardrums, dislodging ossicles and protruding directly into the brain. Its message echoes, ringing, carving its vowels and consonants into the backs of the listener’s eyelids. In seven short words, rising stars of otherworldly aggression Cell command the listeners attention with unwavering totality. The band’s debut full length record—I Will Not Be Found Here After—is one of primal intensity and unabashed, relentless ruthlessness. Distilling the best parts of metalcore, deathcore, slamming death metal and hardcore and creating a unique and uncompromising sound in a time where just about every subgenre and style of heavy music is becoming increasingly overpopulated. Grisly, ear-catching riffs blend in alongside some of the most soul-smothering breakdowns and gargantuan vocal efforts heavy music has seen so far this year—with moments of surprising ethereality that are both uncharacteristic and prodigally well done from Cell, who otherwise deal in sheer brutality. In short, I Will Not Be Found Here After is a crushing and comprehensive release that excellently encapsulates the myriad styles that Cell draw upon in making a shining—and dynamic—example of heavy music.
The instrumentation that defines I Will Not Be Found Here After practically defies conventional genre classification. You want ear-blistering slams? Look no further than the closing moments of “Violent Measures” or “Through Visions of Hatred.” Immense, eerie riffs? The records title track will do nicely. Breakdowns that will make you reorganize your top-ten-breakdowns-of-all-time list? Once more, the title track—but also just about any other cut on Cell’s debut LP. However, where jarring breakdowns, ruthless and furiously-fretted riffs and moments of pure brutality define the lion’s share of I Will Not Be Found Here After, the moments of grim, gloomy melody like those on “Lie Alone for the Spirits to Mold” demonstrate the variety and range Cell are capable of—and they don’t just do it, they do it well. “Lie Alone for the Spirits to Mold” beautifully balances an unsettling, dreary ballad (or Cell’s version thereof) with sputtering moments of blistering, closed-hi-hat-mosh-antics. This is only a brief reprieve, however, before the listener is thrown headfirst back into the fray with “Violent Measures,” a gritty and visceral display of power. While Cell don’t spend much time in the melancholic fugue state that is “Lie Alone for the Spirits to Mold”—making it all the more effective—it serves as an excellent departure from the furled-brow, closed-fist onslaught that is I Will Not Be Found Here After and underscores Cell’s dynamism.
To speak of furled-brow, closed-fist onslaught is to also address the band’s immense vocal dynamic. Featuring a series of blistering guttural bellows, harsh midrange howls and the occasional shrill, belted scream, I Will Not Be Found Here After does everything it needs to do vocally in order to accentuate the moods that define the entirety of the LP—with, admittedly, most of those moods existing somewhere on the spectrum between anger, rage and hatred. The solemn and introspective combination of screams and strained, pained singing that shines on “Lie Alone for the Spirits to Mold” works in outstanding contrast with the bitter, grisly pained bellows at the closing of the LP’s title track, or the emboldened howls throughout “A Promising End.” “Threading the Existence” gives Bodysnatcher’s Kyle Medina some time to do exactly what he does best—adding a little extra dynamism to round out what is already a solidly engaging record. While there are (thankfully) no vocal olympic shenanigans to be found, and only one well-placed feature (in a record that really doesn’t need features to stand out), I Will Not Be Found Here After still shines brightly, a testament that Cell have struck figurative gold with their own songwriting prowess and innate skill.
I Will Not Be Found Here After is a heavy record—but not just a record that’s heavy for heavy’s sake. It tastefully creates a dismal, dense and devastating experience that has something for those well-versed in all things that go chug in the night or those new to the fold. Cell build on The Unbearable Form in incredible fashion, giving heavy music an immensely enjoyable, well-rounded and—you guessed it—immolating debut full length record that will definitely be found on year end lists.
9/10
For Fans Of: The Last Ten Seconds of Life, Bodysnatcher, Ingested, Malevolence, Justice for the Damned
By: Connor Welsh
