Sharing 3/5 of its members with new, very popular deathcore act Crown Magnetar, you’d be forgiven for simply assuming Detroit’s And Hell Followed With was a new, flash in the pan band that sounds exactly like Crown Magnetar. And they do play deathcore, so you’d be partially correct. However, let’s not forget that AHFW were at one point on Earache Records with Oceano and released their debut at the very tail end of  the peak of deathcore in 2010. However, the band split in 2012.

But back in 2019, they reformed and self-released an EP, Chimerical Reality, and indicated they were back and an album was coming. Fast forward 3 years and multiple band members later, (enter the Crown Magnetar folks), the band’s second album has finally been unleashed. And it seems at yet another peak in deathcore popularity. Great timing chaps.

As I mentioned earlier, yes, AHFW plays modern deathcore, and the lone remaining founding member/guitarist Pat Hahn has surrounded himself with Crown Magnetar dudes (notably, vocalist and human blast furnace Dan Tucker), as well as Aegaeon drummer Nick Scott, but imagine AHFW as Crown Magnetar‘s more refined, older cousin. It’s still heavy as hell, modern deathcore, and with Tucker’s vocals, at times utterly savage, but with a few atmospheric and orchestral moments here and there (mainly at the start of songs and the purely instrumental title track), as well as Hahn’s more melodic solo/lead work (which he has done since the debut),  there is some respite and introspection amid the savagery.

Now, it’s not Shadow of Intent/ Lorna Shore-y full-on symphonic bombast, but well placed moments here and there such as the start of opener “The Great Mist”, amid the otherwise utterly blistering  “Emotionless Mass”, the start of “Infinite Sequential Visions of a Sphere of Hate”, “Jewels of Urn”, “In Return, I Shed My Flesh”. And they add flourishes of gravitas among some already pummeling, devastating deathcore. Tucker even tries his hand at some brief clean vocals in “Sacrificial Human Destiny”, adding to the album’s subtle variety of moods and atmospheres among the chaos.

But if you want pure deathcore beatdowns, the likes of “Dethroned” (Tucker’s opening bellows with melt your face off, Raiders of the Lost Ark style) aforementioned “Emotionless Mass” and “Artificial Womb” go straight for the throat, and even those aforementioned tracks that add some keyboards, are still fucking massive.

As it appears to be the norm with all modern deathcore releases, there are a host of vocal guests including Kyle Anderson (Brand of Sacrifice), Duncan Bentley (Vulvodynia), Kyle Medina (Bodysnatcher), Tre Turner (Spirit Breaker), and Julian Kersey (The Faceless/Wormhole). Good luck picking them out though.

It’s ironic that Quietus means ‘death’ or ‘removal of activity’. The album literally seems to be somewhat of a rebirth or phoenix-ian rise from the ashes, and sees them, as they were back in 2009/2010- atop the deathcore heap, with one of the best deathcore releases of the year, in an already impressive year for the genre.

[Visit the band's website]

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