Album Review: Crossfaith – Apocalyze

Crossfaith may have only just entered Australia’s consciousness, but the Osaka band’s concussive third release has the world’s metalcore fans in awe. The five-piece – born out of frustration at Japan’s twee pop culture – features a vocalist who can scream longer and with more fervor than the genre’s current heavyweights, the brutality of a merciless drummer and the versatility of synths and samplers.

Apocalyze, a frenetic mixture of turntable hooks, avalanche percussion and violent guitar parts, is 12 tracks of measured mayhem. Following 2012 caveat EP Zion, the slick production from Machine (Fall Out Boy, Every Time I Die, Four Year Strong) allows electronic elements to bubble underneath its metalcore centre; the synths aren’t tired nor highlighted, instead they catapult renegade guitar lines into the territory of their back-seated predecessors.

When Crossfaith performed an early set at this year’s Soundwave, mud want sent flying as fans moshed to the piercing feedback and dubstep-hardcore crossover. Next month, the band will tour Australia with Bring Me The Horizon and Of Mice and Men, and thanks to the tight musicianship and surprisingly punchy songwriting on their latest opus, the band will welcome a new league of worshipers to the faith.

Apocalyze is out now through Shock Records