Poison The Well “Peace In Place”

‘I’ll change my colours and show myself out’ Poison The Well vocalist Jeffrey Moreira repeats before unleashing sixteen years of fury into opening track Wax Mask on new album Peace In Place. If this is indeed Moreira changing colours and showing himself out, we are in for a wild ride.

It’s been a long time coming for PTW fans and this album is more frustration at the world than melancholy angst.

Primal Bloom, the second track is brutal old school hardcore. It’s pissed off, and the breakdown is more than crushing riffs, it’s torment for a departed soul.

The comeback doesn’t let up, Thoroughbreds feels like a wild horse escaping a cage it should never have been in, and when those riffs land, it is racing to freedom.

Poison The Well became the powerhouse they were because they were not a one trick pony, stuck in hardcore or metalcore. They transcended that and the first taste of those talents’ lands with Everything Hurts, Moreira almost poetic, ethereal, and angelic before bursting in flames as the band show their musical dexterity.

From a time that bands like PTW, Will Haven and Converge pushed metal boundaries, it was Deftones that broke through with a more palatable sound for the masses. With the latters revival, it makes sense PTW can reclaim their throne at the heavier end of that spectrum.

Weeping Tones, and certainly the incredibly ferocious A Wake Of Vultures displays the bands brutality while keeping melody, they may sing they ‘want a different me’ however I’m all for this version. Sorry guys.

Moreira does sing on the album, Bad Bodies and Drifting Without End dabbling in the soft dynamic build up to massive riffs exploding.

Ending the ten-track comeback with Plague Them The Most, the schizophrenic soundscape features rapid rage, atmospheric ambience, and violent eruptions. A perfect embodiment of the album.

Poison The Well took sixteen years to draft this, and anyone who thought they would get safe, or soft, in their intervening years are about to get a bloody nose. This album is a template for how metal and hardcore should be. A huge raging expression of frustration. Play it as intended, loud!

Album Review By Iain McCallum

PEACE IN PLACE – OUT MARCH 20
https://ffm.to/peaceinplace