REVIEW: Boundaries - Yearning: the unbeautiful after [2026]
Artist: Boundaries
Album: Yearning: the unbeautiful after
The word yearn and its derivatives have become increasingly popular in online spaces over the last year or so. Maybe it’s a consequence of the increasingly divisive nature of the human experience—a desire to connect, feel and be felt by one another—a rarity despite growing tools developed to keep us connected and intertwined. Maybe it’s a consequence of the growing popularity of romance literature? Who’s to say. What is clear is that, like many words, the more it’s tossed around, the more its meaning loses value and impact. On their fourth full length record and Sumerian Records debut, Connecticut metalcore unit Boundaries challenge the gross abuse of the term by not only providing a deep and unrivaled sense of yearning, but by exploring the emotional end result. Yearning: the unbeautiful after is the Boundaries we’ve come to know over the past several years and releases honed to possibly their finest and sharpest edge yet. Keenly introspective and catchy while remaining unabashedly heavy and thoroughly relentless, Boundaries’ performance throughout Yearning: the unbeautiful after is masterful, and a stellar testament that despite the band’s growing popularity, they remain an uncompromising force within metalcore.
Whether its the ultra-abrasive tidal waves of sound that define the opening cut “Malconscience,” the fleet riffs that dominate on “Nothing, gathered” or the album’s closing cut, Boundaries continue to refine and perfect the dynamism that garnered attention on Your Receding Warmth and has been a staple in every record thereafter. Percussionist Tim Sullivan rests at the heart of the band’s sprawling and all-capable dynamic—though he does very little resting throughout Yearning: the unbeautiful after. Cacophonous kick drums roar in “Skies cast amber black,” while outstanding and intricate fill work steals the show on “Death will follow me” and “Torn wide open.” Sullivan’s appeal is less the outright technical intensity of his drumming, but the subtle flashes he adds to otherwise unassuming moments—climactic breakdowns abundant throughout Yearning, but especially those in “May this pain never leave” and the aforementioned “Torn wide open” are made that much more impactful by tiny tweaks and tasteful add-ins from behind the drum kit.
Working in a robust dialectic with Sullivan is bassist Nathan Calcagno, alongside guitarists Cory Edmond and Cody Delvecchio. Gargantuan breakdowns and grooves alike benefit from Calcagno’s low end, while Edmond and Delvecchio provide a tasteful tour of multiple eras of metalcore throughout Yearning’s impressive runtime. Edmond and Delvecchio are perhaps at their finest on songs like “May this pain never leave” and “Nothing, gathered”—the former opens with call-and-response fretwork that feels vaguely reminiscent of The Fiction We Live era From Autumn to Ashes, while the latter sounds as though it wouldn’t be out of place on Burying Brightness. The duo are varied in their approach to intricate fretwork, spacious songwriting and bombastic aggression throughout the sprawling nearly-hour-long LP, ensuring that the listener’s ears are always occupied—if not oppressed—by their voracity.
Where the true sensation of yearning takes roots within the band’s fourth full length album is with the vocals and lyrics from frontman Matthew McDougal—assisted by Calcagno and Sullivan. Where McDougal starts in a red-hot rage on “Malconscience,” he evolves into writing more deeply introspective, asking himself—and the listener—questions he sounds truly terrified to learn the answer to. Lyrically, McDougal finds himself revisiting and digesting a circular set of themes throughout Yearning: the unbeautiful after. The first exists as a series of questions, with the epitome asked near the album’s conclusion: what if this is all there is? The second theme—and a sort of reaction to the first—is the response to the answer: rage, sorrow, loathing, depression. On some tracks, McDougal fights, imploring the listener on “Torn wide open” that we are defined by what we survive. On others, McDougal seems hopeless and listless—with “Death will follow me” serving as an outstanding example. Lyrically, this fits the album’s title beautifully—with the two elements of the album’s cyclical discussion consisting of what one’s focus and desires are (yearning) and the outcome of that time and focus (the unbeautiful after).
`Lyrics aside, it should also be noted that McDougal remains a vocal powerhouse. One of very few vocalists with a truly distinct voice, his exploration into new intonations and cadences throughout Yearning: the unbeautiful after is welcome. “Torn wide open” sees him channeling his finest Goodbye to the Gallows era Frankie Palmeri, while “Malconscience” is arguably among the angriest he’s been since…well, the last Boundaries record’s opening song at least. Where McDougal is strong, the band’s time-honored tradition of ambitious vocal collaborations is more modest, and perhaps the only tangible shortcoming throughout the record. While the use of two different vocal guests from Make them Suffer on “Torn wide open” and the appearance of Landon Tewers on “Crowned and crucified” are ear-catching at first, it’s hard to argue that they really add to the songs or overall album in a meaningful way. This could be, in large part, due to the native vocal talent abundant in Boundaries between the efforts of McDougal, Calcagno and Sullivan combined, but overall, while the guest appearances don’t detract from the experience, they also don’t add much either.
Boundaries are a band that have grown from modest, Chugcore origins to a powerhouse of proportions enough to earn themselves a name in metalcore’s “mainstream,” whatever that looks like. For this reason, the band seem to be lumped in with the ever growing “Octanecore” group—and if this is your impression following Yearning: the unbeautiful after, I have some friends in audiology I can refer you to. The band’s 2026 LP draws from time-honored tenets of metalcore past and present to create something robust and comprehensive in its scope and crushing in its intent. I am reticent to consider it the band’s magnum opus—as just about every entry in the band’s discography seems to create a unique sonic “era”—but I do think Yearning is the most uncompromising and authentic entry in the band’s catalogue. Heavy beyond reason, catchy and emotive, Boundaries wreak havoc for nearly an hour (which, by the way, while not too long for my own tastes might feel a little bloated to those uninitiated or less interested), giving metalcore and breakdown enthusiasts worldwide a strong contender for 2026’s album of the year
9/10
For Fans Of: Knocked Loose, Emmure, Varials, Orthodox
By: Connor Welsh