Hailing from Sweden, Until the End of October are a band that’s aiming to combine some of the styles of music that their homeland is best known for with post-hardcore and metalcore to create their own take on the styles they take influence from. This month they released their debut EP, Empires, and it shows a very competent band finding their feet together.
From the opening title track, you’ll hear that post-hardcore is the strongest element of Until the End of October’s sound, coming straight out of the gates with energetic riffs and tight grooves. There’s a tight production holding everything together with a nice low end keeping the rhythm against thick, powerful guitars. Things take a slightly different turn on “The Cracks in Your Disguise”, however, with a more standard punk and approach to the music contrasting with the harsh vocals of Eric Jonsson.
The guys in Until the End of October seem to have that genetic Swedish ability to pick out a strong melody and provide a killer hook to go with it. Every chorus on Empires carries that ability to get stuck in your head for the rest of the day and that’s a very strong trait to have when you’re starting out. When they mix things up on “Rooftops” with a more traditional late 2000s take on post-hardcore, they sort of fall short of the mark a bit, with guest vocalist Michael Lawlor’s vocals in the chorus coming off as very nasally and grating to listen to. However, they recover quickly on the final track “The Prophets of Snakes”, to close off the EP in style, bringing back the energy that made the earlier tracks so strong, with Jonsson’s hardcore yelps at their strongest and perhaps the biggest range of riffs and styles of the whole release from guitarists Lukas Nordqvist and Oskar Östin.
The main issue in this EP lies in the vocals. The cleans from Östin can fall a little flat at times, which should be ironed out over time, but there is a lot of inconsistency with the screams that indicates that Jonsson is not using correct screaming technique. The band may want to consider taking some time to practice their technique in future if they want to avoid vocal chord damage and deliver a more consistent harsh vocal performance.
Concerns over technique aside, though, for a first effort Empires is pretty good. They certainly know how to write riffs, and if Until the End of October can top that up with improved vocal performances in future, they’ll be a very good post-hardcore outfit.
Follow the band on Facebook to hear the EP.