Half Me – SOMA
Release Date: 17th February 2023
Label: Arising Empire
Bandcamp
Genre: Metal, Melodic Hardcore, Metalcore, Nu-Metal, Hardcore.
FFO: Graphic Nature, Borders, Annisokay, Miss May I, Asking Alexandria, The Amity Affliction, Tony Danza Tap Dance Extravaganza.
Review By: Kara Ketchum
German quintet Half Me has decided that for their debut album, SOMA, they would absolutely hit it out of the park. As the newest additions to the Arising Empire family, their formation in 2018 was only the start of an all-star team. With only a few years of existence under their belt, they’ve already been applauded for their self-produced music and videos, as well as earned a nod from Knotfest’s “Countdown to Oblivion.” Their much-awaited release is finally here for people to enjoy and start forging their alliances now.
The opening track “Wraith” gives the listener a minute to warm up before launching them into a wall of sound that will make metalcore lovers swoon. The balancing act of screams and cleans is successful and pays off in a big way. Next up, “Trauma Culture”, feels like listening to a rushing river – and truly pumps up the blood pressure. Its foreboding, menacing tone makes hairs stand up on end before giving some short-lived reprieves of calmness. Track three, “Distort” does a lot of interesting tricks playing up to the title, with some discordant beats in the verses and a fun, electronic drop towards the end.
“Magma Hour” starts off the next section of the album with a fast and loose, djent-if-you-squint styling. Some moments of the album almost feel reminiscent of Tony Danza Tap Dance Extravaganza’s Danza IIII: The Alpha – The Omega, but with more electronic influences. This sentiment is carried out in the fifth entry, “Ex Negativo.” This track also features my personal favorite guitar performance on the album – a little more melodic, but the thread is nicely interwoven with the rest of the chugging without standing out of place.
A nice little interlude of track six, “Zenit” marks the halfway point of the album before barreling into “Proxy.” What becomes really apparent in this track is that, love it or hate it, the vocal fry style of screams was more than just a fad from the late 2000s. While Austin Carlile of Of Mice & Men was given his own flack for it in his time, it’s something we see here with Christopher Zühlke, and he absolutely owns it. In slot eight, “Outbreak”, there seems to be a slight dance element that European bands can’t seem to shake that devolves into one of the more dynamic songs on the album that is equal parts heavy and catchy.
In the back third of the album, “Blacklight” kicks it off with a comparatively simply formatted song. Simple does not mean bad, but this track is rather formulaic. As the phrase goes – if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, and that is one very catchy hook into the chorus. A heartbeat and whirring start off “I Am But A Guest In Exile” but it can not possibly prepare you for how the song develops. Every development in the song seems to come from a different direction that you can only understand by listening, and it rules if you’re into that sort of thing. It definitely holds an interesting audio juxtaposition to “Blacklight.” To give you a palette cleanser, “Mitternacht” gives the listener a moment to breathe before the final track, “Half Me.” The trailing clip that blends into the song opens up the perfect bookend of a metalcore dream – melodic, passionate, and the perfect soundtrack to a circle pit.
Overall, there’s very little to critique with the album – or maybe I’m just easy to please. If you give me nice vocals, and a balance of heavy and playful riffs, I’m good to go. All in all, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel when you have bands like Half Me giving masterclasses on the melodic hardcore genre.
(4.5 / 5)
