Frail Body
A Brief Memoriam

Frail Body is a band that creates its own personal musical jargon, mixing elements of math and progressive on a hardcore foundation. The cover of their album “A Brief Memoriam” is a simple black and white photo of an old lady - a frail body in stark contrast with the relentless sonic blizzard of each track on this album.

In just over twenty minutes, you can really say a lot, and Frail Body seems to have developed a personal narrative with their music. Putting aside the various “post-whatever” and the visible roots of a genre album, what remains is a well-made production. Many contemporary bands tending towards hardcore, in my opinion, suffer from productions that are too clean, with ultra-packaged sounds. Corrected vocals, guitars made with the Kemper, drum kits so plasticized that if they were programmed with loops on a computer, it could be the same thing.

“A Brief Memoriam” offers something entirely different: a sound that hasn't been diluted and filtered, where everything is somewhat confused, leaving room for a bit of chaos, kind of a wild card that gives a sense of hyperactivity and unpredictability to this work.

The voice, reminiscent of artists like Converge or The Chariot, scratches like nails on a chalkboard, supported by incredibly violent guitars and tight rhythms. There's also a progressive element in this album that moves away from the traditional verse-chorus-verse-bridge-chorus form.

These seven tracks seem to have a common thread that unites them, keeping the album firmly anchored to its roots. One of the most disorienting moments of the album is perhaps the transition between the atmospheric “At Peace” and the post-hardcore of “Old Friends,” a fitting conclusion to an album well-made and played with heart, sweat, and grit.