Review Summary: Ex-Prayers shows extreme genre development potential as well as a band able to crossover by blending metal, progressive, and hardcore into a solid outing.
Beatdown is an emerging subgenre within the metal and hardcore underground. It combines a level of aggression that is common place for hardcore, the detuned, sludgy riffs of metal, and an underlying groove element. The genre has only been in around for a couple of years but is already experiencing notable shifts and stylistic differences. At the forefront of this movement is Kaonashi from Philadelphia.
So what's up?
Ex-Prayers is a five track affair released in January of 2016. The band can loosely be described as a combination between the heavy grooves of beatdown and the chaotic riffing of a band such as Dillinger Escape Plan. This has also been dubbed, Progressive Hardcore, a name that fits quite nicely. The band are able to blend a technical progressive metal edge to a hardcore format, complete with odd-metered breakdowns and sludgy riffing. They also venture further into progressive metal with some more atmospheric moments and that wouldn't sound out of place in a Between the Buried and Me song during their Victory phase. Ex-Prayers shows extreme genre development potential as well as a band able to crossover by blending metal, progressive, and hardcore into a solid outing.
Recommended tracks: Drift, My Life Feel Apart, Exit Pt. 2
KAONASHI
EX-PRAYERS EP
