Beartooth
Disease – Red Bull Records
Sometimes stepping just one foot in front of the other is too much. Desperately clawing through days, hours, minutes. Still too much. Sometimes it’s down to blink by blink, breath by breath. Waiting for the gnawing, unrelenting, hellish blackness to lift. Just for one second. Know this – it will. And until it does, there is Beartooth. Caleb Shomo screams ‘it’s like holding on when my grip is lost’ on the title track. ‘Disease’ throws out a lifeline to cling on to. For the warriors who are fighting depression right now, or the battle-scarred who have come out the other side. ‘Disease’ is dark. Caleb delves deep into the absolute horrors of what the mind is capable of. Yet listening to ‘Disease’ unearths the fact no one is fighting alone. Lyrics about the most wretched feelings sung/spat/screamed over intensely beautiful, infectious, euphoric tunes. With monster, headbanging choruses. Taken without the lyrics, ‘Disease’ is a solid example of the best metalcore around. There’s no song that needs skipping – they’re all that good. Add in Caleb’s brutal, heart-hurtingly honest lyrics and, well, his courage is humbling. Everyone needs to hear this. Play it loud.
Review by Jo Wright