For a genre that’s foundations are rooted in individuality and dissention, hardcore has given birth to hordes of cookie-cutter bands, who’s success is often measured by their ability to imitate the stereotype. Every once in a while, however, a band surfaces that sets the concentric circles of influence into motion. Remarkably harnessing exceedingly more intensity than the typical hardcore vocal approach by utilizing melody, Beloved addresses the human condition, failure, and perseverance with an emotive and heart-wrenching attack that is equal parts brutality ad beauty. “I feel like hardcore has become sort of a stagnant… [it] can be beautiful if its done honest and pure, and not just to fit some mold; that's what we are trying to go for,” says chief vocalist/guitarist Joshua Moore. While most bands that have ventured this approach have either produced little more than mono-tone vocal drone buried under screaming, or sacrificed the purity of the genre, “Failure On” is an immaculate combination that borrows without diluting integrity. “I feel like we are doing something that is honest, and important to us. Our music has a chance to maybe bridge the gap between hardcore and melody, in a very seamless way.”
This dedication to honesty, purity and innovation becomes all too clear moments into “Failure On.” The slow burning and soaring melodies of album opener “Failure on My Lips” ushers in the record’s tone and showcases their maturity of songwriting and dynamic grasp. Alternating moments of galloping double bass drum and syncopated rhythm section assault with Moore’s lilting, wounded angel vocal delivery fills stand-out track “Allure,” and is testament to the band’s perpetual growth and momentum, even through the recording process of this year’s Solid State Records debut. The floating and fragile dual guitar parts of “Death to Traitors” skirt and intertwine before exploding into relentless, plodding pounding serving as a fearful backdrop for their challenges and songs of struggle. “The title of this record is "Failure On" . I think its a very open-ended title, and leaves room for the listener to interpret. ‘Failure On’ to me is a very open-ended idea, like life has been over the last year and a half of writing, [when] we learn from our failures, and we move on. Thus, Failure on. Some of the songs focus more on that; this struggle with feeling; trying to hide that from others. Some of the songs are written to people that have personally done us wrong, and many of the songs simply challenge people to listen to their hearts, and choose for themselves what they want to live and believe.”
Recorded with hardcore and metal veteran GGGarth Richardson (Rage Against the Machine, Chevelle), “Failure: On” captures the raw, emotive intensity of a band bent on stretching boundaries, encapsulating beauty and translating the duality of struggle and victory into an equally double-edged artform.
Overview