Aggressive, unapologetic and of the times

Hardcore supergroup END, made up of Counterparts frontman Brendan Murphy, Fit For An Autopsy guitarist Will Putney and past and present members of Misery Signal, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Shai Hulud and Reign Supreme (Greg Thomas, Jay Pepito and Andrew McEnaney), delivers a cathartic album: Splinters From An Ever-Chaning Face. This cohesive album packs a solid punch and exudes immense noise, even with a short run time of 34 minutes for 11 songs. Everyone comes together to make a solid project that is not segmented by the member’s individual affiliations.  

From the vocals to the instruments, this album is aggressive and filled with a heaviness which is fitting with everything that 2020 has brought upon the nation. Right off the bat, “Covet Not” is lightning fast with furious beats and screaming vocals that snap people to attention. This same energy is kept throughout the entire song. While the next song, “Pariah,” is slower and builds up, it is filled with steady riffs and does not lose the intensity of the album. 

Following right after, “Absence” is a dash of black metal with the instance tempo and shrieking vocals. Across the entire album, there is a heaviness that weighs on people in a good way. It is meant to be felt and thought upon; no song lets up on this feeling. “Hesitation Wounds,” the sixth track of Splinters From An Ever-Changing Face, is the pinnacle of this heavy feeling as the song itself builds to a breaking point. 

“Sand of Sleep,” the closer and the longest track coming in at over five minutes, is one of the slower tracks on the album. Even though the tempo is on the slower end, the song is filled with the same fierceness in vocals that have been experienced up until this point. The instruments take the forefront for the beginning of the song, but the vocals rise to match the intensity. 

Murphy, Putney, Thomas, Pepito and McEnaney come together in END and don’t hold back with a persistent full-length debut album, Splinters From An Ever-Changing Face. The hardcore group leaves no room for rest as they keep up a continuous, heavy atmosphere with intense vocals and instrumentation. Fitting for the year 2020 has been, this album is a release of rage and apprehension that many can relate to in a time like this.