Poison The Well
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After having written important chapters for the so-called post-emo-core genre, with two truly beautiful and inspired albums that were missing something, and after a not too focused shift into the major label field with their previous work for Atlantic, Poison the Well has released their best album not for a major label, but for the small yet powerful, in the metal-core field, Ferret Music.

With the lineup reduced from 5 members to just the 3 founders, and boasting a sound now more than ever diverse, drawing heavily from various influences without copying and most importantly without overdoing it, they manage to write the chapter of artistic maturity.

The sound moves away from traditional emo to embrace even more suffering and at times apocalyptic solutions, as in the stunning yet heavy “pleading post” (which in its central opening resembles even certain Cult of Luna), or as in the concluding “the first day of my second life,” where they reach heights of sadness never expressed by the band before, thanks mainly to an outstanding vocal performance by singer Jeffrey Moreira, remarkable for its intensity and dynamism. They transition from tight arrangements to sweet and intense ones with an ease that only the greats possess, managing to be convincing and to give listeners chills on various occasions; beautiful in this sense are “nagaina” and “you will not be welcome,” two of their best tracks ever.

There are various echoes of the past, such as the hardcore accents that run throughout the work; but also many noise elements, indebted to the resurrected Unsane's American school, like the dark and indeed noisy wall of sound of “composer meet corpse,” beautiful in its paranoid and desperate progression. The album also exudes a significant dose of raw rock, stoner, and bluesy vibes, and “naive monarch” is the example of this.

I was pleasantly surprised by this work; it managed to completely engage me, keeping my attention always alert, something that especially the previous album, ‘you come before you,’ had failed to do, and I am happy about that; mainly because in the emo field, as we are still in this sector, there is someone who raises the crest and deviates significantly from the usual patterns dear to this genre, managing to go beyond, experimenting and surprising.

Congratulations...