Jesus Piece - Only Self

One of the most hyped up debut metallic hardcore albums of the year, alongside Vein’s Errorzone, Jesus Piece’s Only Self seems just as keen to build on the massive attention Code Orange drew to metallic hardcore last year by making hardcore music a force too devastating to ignore. And the hype around Only Selfhas certainly not been hollow or artificially industrially planted either; Jesus Piece made an introductory statement in 2015 with their self-titled EP impressive enough to attract underground curators Southern Lord. While I enjoyed the unrestrained ferocity of the performances and the solid production of their debut EP, I hoped only that the band would focus what seemed to be their natural ability for sheer hardcore brutality into tighter, more intentional compositions on their next effort. And while Only Self for the most is quite the improvement upon the band’s 2015 EP in terms of production, performance, and even the compositional dynamic of the songs, it still feels like the band could have done more to focus the direction of so many of the songs on here. While hardcore of this variety is not typically packaged in easy, convenient verse-chorus structures for the average listener to easily digest, the manner in which the intense auditory assault of metallic hardcore is arranged is still important, and bands like Converge, Code Orange, Knocked Loose, etc. have shown how much a series of consistently well-organized pieces and compositional originality can elevate the style and enhance the power with which the music naturally hits, working it into a technically-conscious choreography of powerful punches rather than simply flailing in all directions. I do not want to make it seem like that is entire what Jesus Piece are doing on this record. They still work a greater deal of compositional dynamic and thoughtfulness into their songs on this record, but (and I kind of had the same wish of Vein’s debut album as well) I wish they had still done a good deal more to make the songs on the album more organized and

The opening track, “Lucid”, comes off the short, eerie, high-pitched intro with one of the album’s most direct, powerful hardcore grooves and the rabid, deathly, adrenalized growls that have helped Jesus Piece stand out so far. The introductory track does move through a series of sections of varying intensity, but only it never really builds the tension in a way in which the snap produces anything beyond what they were doing before the tension. Still, it’s a sold track and everything I’ve loved about Jesus Piece up until now is on full display here. The second track, the shorter “Workhorse”, passes in kind of a quick blur of dissonant guitar strumming and standard hardcore brutishness performed by the exceptionally brutal Jesus Piece. The song ends on a bit of an anticlimactic note, even as the shortest track on the album. And it doesn’t really go too far in the two minutes it has either.

“Punish”, however, quickly recaptures the album’s momentum with one of the most punishing rhythms of bass guitar and bass drum syncopation on the album. The crisp production on the album accents the drum hits and the rumble of the bass exquisitely and the band do well to work in pauses and crashes into the song’s dynamic. It’s again, one of the moments I wish the band had done more to find a way to make something explosive, especially with the song’s groove being so heavy. I think they could have found a way to efficiently work in an explosive breakdown that wouldn’t need a lot of time to build up, and wouldn’t leave dead air for the hardcore dancers during live shows. The following song, “Curse of the Serpent”, works in some noticeable down-tuned guitars and, despite not boasting the most violent of riffs or grooves, stands out as one of the more directionally focused songs on the album.

The album takes a bit of an ominous turn at its midpoint with “In the Silence”. The spooky guitar arpeggiations and sustenance worked into the more bombastic parts are interesting, but it still feels a bit haphazard, and it’s one of the moments where a bit of vocal versatility would have been a nice addition for the album.

“Adamant” and “Neuroprison” both sound like productionally updated versions of the type of material that characterized their self-titled EP. I do like the slower, semi-breakdown sections of “Neuroprison”, but it still feels like the band could have done more to make the songs compositionally complete and work in more unique grooves to help pieces stand out. The song “Dog No Longer” opens with a low-tuned guitar riff that I could see industrial nu metal albums from the likes of American Head Charge featuring. It’s one of the slower, chuggier songs on the album, but even so, it doesn’t stray so far from the boundaries Jesus Piece seem to have set for themselves to be very notable.

The final pair of songs, “I” and “II”, end the album on an interesting note together. The first of the two, “I”, is an ethereal, ambient piece featuring echo-y choir vocals and meditative guitar sustain to produce the only real break in the album’s full-frontal hardcore assault. It supplies only a momentary and eventually foreboding moment to catch a gasped breath of air before “II” concludes the album on a grand-sounding finishing statement of thick, slowly applied guitar distortion and echoed growls that work to construct an interesting meditative drone of what’s made up the preceding songs on the album.

On the plus side, Only Self is a very strong, above-average debut metallic hardcore album, but it still sounds like exactly that: a debut. While Jesus Piece definitely have the muscular edge over most of the composition in the hardcore game (which their production definitely gives them an advantage in), they’re pretty much on-level compared to their less-notable peers in the compositional department. It seems like the band have the instruments at their disposal to do more than what they put forward on this album. I think of competitive athletes who only focus on one or a few aspects of their fitness and ignore other aspects of their game that leave them vulnerable. Yes, hardcore is very much focused on brute force and blood-pumping energy, but that doesn’t excuse negligent composition. Not that Jesus Piece completely ignore the need to make compelling compositions, but they still don’t focus on it enough to elevate them to the likes of Converge or modern hardcore darlings Code Orange, both of whom have placed themselves on hardcore’s top shelf not with simply standard punching strength, but with keen, creative approaches to the style: Converge with the wild, but acrobatic instrumental chaos, and Code Orange with their tasteful experimentation and unique approach to the hardcore breakdown. Jesus Piece have everything in their arsenal to out-hardcore the vast majority of their competition, but they still need to develop that compositional proficiency to forge an identity beyond extra-heavyweight hardcore punchers to be real title contenders. Again, the good news is that this is a debut album and Jesus Piece have plenty of time to make improvements in the areas where the need is easily apparent. I know it probably sounds like I’ve been pretty harsh on this young band on their debut LP, but I really do like Only Self. My criticism is really restricted to the compositions on the album; the performances and production are excellent, the flow of the songs makes sense, and the band don’t really make any fatal or glaring errors. In all the usual checkboxes for hardcore success, Jesus Piece drill a blasting hole through the animalistic vocals, crushing guitar tone, and punchy drumming bullet points. They certainly passed all their prerequisite classes with flying colors. It’s just those grad school standards they need to step up to, and of many of the new hardcore bands these days, I think they are up for and qualified to tackle the challenge.