It’s a tale as old as time: metalcore band grows in stature and prestige from the underground into something bigger, only to go soft. Like many of the bands lumped in as influences for Dying Wish, nothing about the Portland-based band’s prior output could be labeled “light.”
Sporting a style that felt as 2004 as humanly possible, prior albums borrowed equally from the might of straight edge xcorex and the more melodeath-y legends: think mid-career Killswitch Engage, It Dies Today, or Darkest Hour; if you are newer to the style, think Boundaries with more harmonic riffs. Brought to the relative mainstream through a relentless live show and the friendship of Knocked Loose, the Bryan Garris-featuring “Enemies in Red” remains one of the best modern core songs around. Flesh Stays Together feels like an inflection point for a band who know exactly what they want to be and deliver on that superbly.
Seeing Dying Wish live this past spring on the Spiritbox/Loathe tour feels quite prescient in retrospect. My preference for metalcore is of the fast-paced, hyper-melodic variety. I maintain that “Kiss of Judas” was the band’s best song to date—a two-minute absolute ripper that felt like Still Remains/Haste the Day on cocaine. However, the live show revealed that the band were best when balancing their fury with Emma Boster’s until-now-underutilized singing voice. “Lost in the Fall” was a firecracker live because of how impressively everyone seemed to be firing on all cylinders while making for a song that sounded heavier live than any of their other, beefier songs. That serves as an omen into why Flesh Stays Together is Dying Wish’s best work to date, despite not delivering on what many—myself included—would have asked for them.
To be entirely clear, much has changed, while much has seen its expected progression. Emma’s gothic vocals are all over the place on this record. Instead of coming across as pandering to whatever version of radio-friendly slurs exist in our post-radio era (“Octanecore?”), the resulting vocal balance results in songs that feel eerie and menacing, befitting the almost nihilistic lyrical themes throughout. “Nothing Like You” wasn’t in the realm of possibility before, giving how genuinely chilling the song is until it explodes in violence, only to be reigned back in before a stellar coda.
That all comes down to smart songwriting choices where songs maintain suspense through a lot more patience throughout instead of cramming as much into each song as possible. For sickos like myself, the one-two punch of late album standouts “Surrender Everything” and personal favorite “Empty the Chamber” highlight that Dying Wish can sound as pissed as ever. The fact that they are bookmarked by two of the most hauntingly gorgeous songs on the record hammers home the point that Dying Wish are delighted to expand their possibilities.
“Heaven Departs” is genuinely chilling, and highlights every weapon in Dying Wish’s new arsenal: powerful vocals, shifting ideas that build rather than harm momentum, and efficient breakdowns that feel significantly more ignorant than before—and I mean that with all due respect. The song even recalls long-forgotten Killswitch Engage side project Times of Grace in its use of melancholy.
Not everything is perfect. The production does a ton of favors to the band but often buries the more interesting guitar work in the mix. The track sequencing could have spread out the world-beaters a bit more (“A Curse Upon Iron” is the only one in the front half), and lovers of one-note metalcore will not find as much to appreciate here as before. That said, those with patience and interested in the other side of the coin of what can happen when a band embraces their full melodic sensibilities (empties their sonic chamber, cough), will be ecstatic on what Dying Wish can accomplished here.
Check out the flesh together at this location.
