Yellfire - Dear Gods - Metal Epidemic

Yellfire – Dear Gods
Release Date: 15th November 2024
Label: The Ghost Is Clear Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Noise Rock, Post-Hardcore, Punk, Hardcore.
FFO: Ken Mode, Botch, Cave In, Burial Dance, Murf, G i f t.
Review By: Mark Young

Dear Gods is the latest release from the four-piece post hardcore act Yellfire and truth be told it’s an angry little beast that spends 40 or so minutes shouting at you whilst attempting to cause injury with a series of increasingly bludgeoning material.

And it sounds great.

In trying to compare it to the chance of a violent outburst, it starts on a 70% probability as they storm in with Into Fire. Guest vocals from John Pettibone (Undertow, Himsa, Heiress) add to the overall noise as Jerome Sauer starts as they mean to go on by delivering a voice shredding performance whilst guitar lines stab in and out. It’s hostile and effectively sets you up for everything that comes in next. If you imagine that the vocal style doesn’t change from track one, then the music must follow a similar pattern. Absolutely not, this isn’t a rinse and repeat exercise. Musically, it comes from a place of honesty, and you get the feeling that if the band themselves didn’t feel that a particular idea is authentic to them, then it would not make the cut. Escape, bringing in further guest vocals from Demian Johnston, has some quality guitar in there that feels as though it’s a body giving out its last breath.

It’s a constant attack, coming in waves, and doesn’t hold back. And yet, with tracks like Cynics Revision, they throw in harmonised backing with just a moment of subtle refrain that knocks you for a loop. It doesn’t mean that Jerome is holding back, it just gives them a more expansive arena to play in. It is the definition of organised chaos, it really is. They are equally at home on short blasts as they are with the longer songs, as the one-two of Unrelated Incident into Symmetry shows. Symmetry has this fizzing bass running through it and diving into the quieter sections it really cuts through. There’s a touch of early Mastodon as manic lines merge with an exemplary build that is in constant motion without losing sight of where it needs to get to. It’s mesmeric stuff and once again shows that there are many avenues they can go down when they want to.

Red Sky is their closing statement and is every bit as immediate as Into Fire was as the album kicked off. Both vocalists come together as discord reigns, with some gloriously heavy riffing that makes for nightmare audio fuel. It’s an album that doesn’t lose any intensity at all, whilst avoiding any hint of repetition. Absolutely monstrous.