SINGLE REVIEW: EMPATHY – OF UNSOUND MIND

Back again, I see. It’s been a while, 1412.

“I thought it was over. I thought I escaped all this when I got out of that god forsaken hospital and away from those fucking nurses.”

You were wrong.

It’s been a year and some change since Streamwood, IL nu metalcore newcomers EMPATHY debuted with their first look into the character of patient 1412, and they’re back with the next chapter in the story. Welcome to Of Unsound Mind, the new single and dark installment in this terrifying tale.

It’s no secret that I loved Empathy’s debut, Running from Happiness, and that’s partially due to their ties to fellow Illinois sadboi brutes, VCTMS. My only complaints were the lacking production and obvious influence of their peers. Forget all of that, because this new track took both of those issues and buried them so far down in the dirt that the earth’s core is moshing to the entirety of the EP. Guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Anthony Williams and vocalist Ernesto Yebra are joined this time around by guitarist Abe Regalado, and he is absolutely a more than welcome addition to the fold. Across entirety of the two minute, short-but-still-irresponsibly-heavy track, Williams and Regalado slither, slash, and smash their way through the listener’s cranium like protagonist of a zombie flick skull-smashing a horde of the undead. Where Regalado is brooding and brutish (especially in the ending breakdown of the song), Williams is erratic and murderous, Giving each chug an added layer of panic and paranoia to each primal second of pit fodder. Where Regalado is furious, Williams is menacing. Combining Regalado’s unrelenting riffing and chugging with his own filthy bass tone and mindbogglingly complex (and yet unbelievably monstrous) drumming, Williams yet again crafts the perfect canvas for Yebra to unleash venom over.

And spit venom he does.

Don’y worry, 1412. We’re here to help, remember? After all, why would you come back here if we weren’t?

The truth is, you don’t remember how or why you’re back in this place. They changed you last time, but you can’t seem to recall how.

All you know is you’re sure you don’t want to be here again.

Ernesto Yebra is an underappreciated and imposing vocal powerhouse. While the band’s debut was more or less a creative rehash of his peers, Yebra has evolved exponentially in a relatively small period of time. Befitting to the next chapter of 1412, Yebra has lost his damn marbles and the vocal delivery across this new single is every bit as angry and bone-chilling as you’d expect. Flowing effortlessly between serpentine high screams, throaty shouts, and grisly, blood spattered lows, Yebra sounds one part snake demon and two parts self-loathing serial killer. He has improved his range and execution and sounds more sinister and bloodthirsty than his entire performance across the band’s debut EP. Both lyrically and vocally, Yebra brings his a-game, and continues to prove why he’s the true underdog of nu-metalcore in 2018.

10/10

FFO: VCTMS, Yuth Forever, Witness