American A-list metalcore rockers, Beartooth return with fifth expansion – The Surface. Turn it up.
Caleb Shomo rubs his palms, clears his throat and belts, “Might’ve pushed it to the limit but I’m not dead yet, Drop it..” With that, the Ohio frontman re-introduces us to the wrought noise-rock chaos of Beartooth – a blathering of heavy exorcism mixed with inducing melodies – for the fifth time in nine years.
Thrown in after the back of Below in 2021, – which notably didn’t have the same body-slam calamities as Disgusting (2014) or Aggressive (2016) – The Surface expands on those same themes of desperation; a battle of recovery and self-acceptance, all wrapped in a big swallowing of metal rock and hardcore. With titles drawn from a figurative cry-for-help on Shomo’s own part, Disgusting and Disease both had their leading ladies with In Between and Bad Listener which brought a new cult showing in the hardcore for the Ohio boys. The band aren’t exactly new, so it’s nice to see that a devout following are still keeping tabs on the bands’ whereabouts; a nine-year run with an expansive music world constantly changing is not to be thrown about like a fart in a wind.
The axel grinder breakdown of fury-led lead single Riptide to the polished pop-lick of Sunshine! into its swampy grassroot breakdown, gives us a steady foundation of what to expect going to into The Surface. The implosion of a rock bombast and an infectious melody has become Beartooth’s bread-and-butter since their heyday, with Go Be The Voice in 2013 bringing both Shomo’s screaming abridging between post-hardcore and emo interlaced with an infectious chorus.
Riptide is the next song in this ritual; a chorus fit enough for Fall Out Boy but the axel grinder breakdown squeezed in is fitting enough to be on a Knocked Loose record. The pop-lick fetish is also apparent on Sunshine! – a polished work made with besmirched hard rock, breaking down in blood, sweat and tears.
The album bursts with prolonged thought however, as the band take a breather on acoustic-heavy Look The Other Way, it’s apparent that Shomo digressed with his demons upon the writing stages of this album as he picks up the pieces. I Was Alive also strains on sorrowful alternative rock, a song that Caleb remarks as the best he’s ever written, as the guitar melody swoons and weaves in agony alike.
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When albums are self-produced by the musicians themselves on the track, there’s always a sense of ambivalence in the qualms and quality of production. But with The Surface, we needn’t be such sceptics with fiery Doubt Me having no trouble belching out its darkest. The jangly knick-knacks of The Better Me teeters into the territory of post-hardcore/emo-rock with county country-rock template HARDY no doubt having a hand in. An odd pairing the say the least, but just pays off on a fifth album outing. Might Love Myself goes equally as hard as it rear-ends on a completely furious breakdown that doesn’t go on enough for you to fully appreciate it. We’re hit with fast flurries of riffage in My New Reality – a composting of former Beartooth frenzy from the likes of Aggressive – that bears fruit to the new sounds this year for Beartooth. It’s certainly a hard-hitting enterprise on the 11-track record but one cannot compete with the might of What’s Killing You – a suave sonic blasting fit for the highest concert halls on the road as it’s funky instrumental pepperings and squawky guitar bends making it an hollistic how-to.
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