In 1976, astronomers at the Big Ear Telescope discovered a signal from space. The signal was so strong and unexpected that while reading the printout, astronomer Jerry Ehman circled it a wrote ‘Wow!’ in ballpoint pen. ‘Royal Discordance’, the third album from The Gloom In The Corner, is the Wow Signal but metalcore.
Trying to define the record’s sound is difficult. They call it ‘metalcore’ but the description is neither particularly helpful nor entirely accurate. Yes, it contains elements of hardcore and metal, but the portmanteau doesn’t come close to covering the amount of more the band is capable of. Basically, it sounds like the unholy offspring of Knocked Loose and My Chemical Romance; one part scouring heaviness and bone-crunching breakdowns, one part progressive glam. It’s enough to make you gasp at its audacity. It is, putting it mildly, quite an experience.
The term ‘glam metal’ might bring to mind sparkly costumes, a sense of majesty, and a certain degree of cheesiness. ‘Royal Discordance’ is a lot of things, but it’s not that. While similar bands like Motionless In White or Ice Nine Kills lean into that schlocky sound, this draws a clear line and stays on the other side of it. It’s dark and gritty, and takes itself seriously. While there’s nothing inherently good about dark grittiness, sticking to that one tone means the record feels powerful and coherent. This is particularly helpful because they’re also unafraid to discard genre; no two songs are alike and nothing seems to be off limits, combined with an epic sense of scale you’d think the resulting album would be a massive mess. It isn’t. There are three reasons for that;
Firstly, it has a clear sense of purpose. The opening track ‘The Problem With Apocalyptic Tyranny’ is an intense and vicious introduction but it also seeds many of the ideas they will bring into play later, like a sweep of clean vocals and sprightly shifts in direction. The album then unfolds like a map, every song with a variety of contours each within its own little square.
Secondly, Mikey Arthur’s vocals are stunning, not just because he handles a variety of styles either. What separates him from most other vocalists is he seems to be good at everything. Death growls, snotty snarls and guttural rasps are all used on songs like ‘Painkiller Soliloquy’ to give them shape and personality while his singing voice is equally powerful. For example, the soaring section of ‘Shadow Rhapsody II’ simply wouldn’t work if he couldn’t lean so hard into its soaring melody. By using a mixture of styles he makes the record feel consistently creative and emotionally earnest.
Finally, and most importantly, the record has a hard edge. Producer Jonathan Delese has captured a tangible sound, a kind of anti-glam dirtiness, that makes it bite. This gives the heavier songs like ‘Painkiller Soliloquy’ or ‘Assassination Run‘ a chunky hardness that stings like a spanking from a plank of wood. Although this is where the Knocked Loose comparisons are most clearly felt even the more expansive songs like ‘Short Range Teleportation (A Guide To Guerilla Warfare)’ feature bruising breakdowns or nasty, scratchy pick scrapes. This anchors the songs in an aggressive mode and avoids them feeling overblown or straying into camp, even – or especially – when they aim for the epic.
Although ‘If You Didn’t Like Me Then, You Won’t Like Me Now’ is an amazing title for a progressive metalcore song, it’s also blatantly wrong. Delve into the band’s back catalogue and it becomes clear just how much of a step up this new record is. Their 2022 album ‘Trinity’ treads similar ground, but something has changed. It’s like a dial has been turned back, the maximalism has been toned down. To be clear, there is still a lot happening, but the ideas are carefully applied rather than heaped on. It’s the difference between smoky eye and clown makeup. Basically, they have discovered taste.
On the subject of taste, ‘Assassination Run’ opens with a line that tells you exactly the tone the song is going for before liberally scattering swearwords around like holy water at an exorcism, tongue wedged firmly in its cheek. This is testament to the band’s understanding of its creation, the differing approaches they are able to take and proof they can excel in different styles. It is in effect saying ‘You want deathcore? Try This’.
Subsequent songs share that same level of confidence regardless of the style so ‘That’s Life (Carry Me Home)’ is a pop-rock song in the style of AFI that has a blistering understanding of momentum, while ‘Note (Hollow Point Elysium)’ is built around a looped sample of a shotgun being cocked and a revolver being spun, giving it an unusual rhythmic profile. Indeed, despite making a lot of strong choices they also make consistently good choices and each song has a clear sense of purpose no matter what approach it takes.
If you have any lingering doubts this is exactly the kind of record that has a grand finale. More than that, it’s split into two parts. ‘Love I – A Quaver Through The Pale’ flexes its muscles while ratcheting up the tension allowing ‘Love II – A Walk Amongst The Poppy Fields’ to pay it all off in one sweeping gesture. It’s a fitting end and a striking way to conclude the album.
On their new album, The Gloom In The Corner are tuned to a whole new wavelength. The results are as thrilling as a signal beamed in from another planet. Wow – ‘Royal Discordance’ is a breathtaking piece of work.
IAN KENWORTHY
