Year of the Knife – No Love Lost
Release Date: 27th October 2023
Label: Pure Noise Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Metallic Hardcore
FFO: Jesus Piece, Sanction, Dying Wish.
Review By: Jeff Finch
First and foremost, everyone in Year of the Knife is alive and healthy: that is the most important piece of this album release. For those unaware, the band was in a horrific crash a couple of months ago, and it was thought that lead vocalist Madi Watkins might not make it. Through sheer perseverance, will, strength, and the excellent staff taking care of her, Madi was released from the hospital not long ago, still with a long road to true recovery ahead. Now, here we sit on the precipice of their newest full length LP, No Love Lost, being released to the masses, and after multiple listens, it’s abundantly obvious that this band is a force to be reckoned with, both in terms of their physical will and their musical capacity, as No Love Lost is a mammoth effort that can be absorbed in less time than a typical sitcom episode, but one that will leave you feeling like you’ve had the hell beat out of you.
In just north of 20 minutes, Year of the Knife manages to bombard its listeners with an onslaught of chugging, meaty riffs from Aaron Kisiewlewski, contagious, thick bass lines, courtesy of Brandon Watkins, fiercely chaotic drumming of Andrew Kisiewlewski, and an absolutely visceral vocal performance from Madi; the entire album is an exercise in unfettered ferocity, the few moments of reprieve not meant for breath but rather for preparation, as the next aural onslaught is always just around the corner. Those moments when the band shifts tempo, as on tracks Your Control and Heaven Denied, are breakneck in nature and expertly performed, the half-tempo’s allowing the powerful riffs to chug and the bass to rumble, while the drumming segues from blast beats to double bass, Madi never once letting up
The shortest track on the album, Last Laugh, featuring Dylan from the legend’s Full of Hell, is a proper showcase of just how far Year of the Knife can push themselves. The metallic hardcore is revamped and performed at such a high level that it sounds like they were built for grind, nearly an albums worth of notes and intensity crammed into a mere 47 seconds of musical maelstrom: if Year of the Knife ever wanted to make a grind album, we have hard proof, here, that they would nail it. Meanwhile, in other features, Devin from the ultra-popular Sanguisugabogg makes an appearance on Wish, his vocals layered with Madi’s in the ‘chorus’ where the band tunes down before transitioning into a devastating breakdown of sorts, where Devin’s lows contrast expertly with Madi’s shrieks, the band chugging along while these two vocal monsters take turns summoning the devil from the depths.
There aren’t many ways to express just how heavy, powerful, and successful this album is without repeating the same thing over and over: quite frankly, this album is an unrelenting barrage on the senses, whose sole purpose is to eviscerate everything in its path, cranked to 11, the band never overstaying their welcome, only one track even breaking the 3-minute mark, Kurt Ballou of Converge fame recording an unleashed monster from the abyss. If you like your metal fast, heavy, visceral, emotionally charged, and aiming to breathlessly assault your every sense, No Love Lost is where you’ll get it. At no point on this record is there a let-up, even the transitions to a mid-paced tempo a display of pummeling mayhem, as the band performs with the same level of aggression and energy that they bring to their live show, a testament to their skills, their consistency, and their passion. With this record, their third full length and the first with Madi on lead vocals, Year of the Knife is on a mission to take the crown of heaviest metalcore band on the planet. At this juncture, they’re not too far off. Listener beware, this is an unrelenting beast hellbent on world domination, starting in your headphones. 
(4.5 / 5)
