Artist: Endwell
Album: Punishment
Genre: Metalcore
Label: Mediaskare

As time goes on, more and more genre blurring occurs, and more and more unique sub-genres arise and continuously bands are pigeon-holed into those new niches for music. Some bands look to do this, some seek to avoid this at all costs, and then there are bands the bands who don’t care and just make music. It’s safe to say that Endwell’s new album Punishment fits into the latter category. A mix of seemingly every hardcore and metalcore sub-genre under the sun, there’s a little something for any fan of heavy music.

The line between overwhelmingly erratic and refreshingly diverse isn’t really a thin line, and Endwell sit somewhere along that broad border. In terms of just breakdowns, Punishment is surprisingly varied, avoiding the overuse of any stereotypical breakdowns and keeping energy and interest up. Accented by the heavy use of bass drops, it’s pretty easy to notice when songs change pace–a great thing for people who hate subtlety or need a little bit of help knowing when to start a mosh pit. The problem, however, is that the constant use of bass drops and heavy EQ is very desensitizing. By the time you’ve heard a few breakdowns the bass drops and heavy drums just become part of the landscape.

Not all of the musical content on Punishment is blatant and obvious, though. From song to song, and sometimes even verse to verse, the styles of riffs change and evolve ever so slightly, giving the album a remarkable amount of depth considering the rather static vocal stylings from Sean Murphy (they’re very true to hardcore–loud, raucous, and relatively uniform). For an album that leans more towards hardcore than metal, Punishment features some really solid riffs, and some that are decidedly metal, such as the opening of the song “Plague Wielders” (I mean, what’s more metal than triplet strumming?).

More than just a mosh record, Punishment actually has some good replay value and more than enough substance to listen to when not moshing (which unfortunately can’t be said for every hardcore record). While it’s not a landmark release, it’s better than a mediocre and bland hardcore album, and certainly worth checking out if you’re into some solid metalcore.

Score: 7/10
Review written by: Jordan Munson

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James Shotwell

James Shotwell is the founder of Under The Gun Review. He loves writing about music and movies almost as much as he loves his two fat cats. He's also the co-founder of Antique Records and the Marketing Coordinator for Haulix. You should probably follow him on Twitter.

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