Written by Ellis Heasley
Vein.fm – This World Is Going To Ruin You
Metallic hardcore from Boston, MA
Releases March 4th via Nuclear Blast Records
In a world of quality post-Forever metallic hardcore releases, few bands have cut through quite as decisively as Boston’s Vein.fm. Their 2018 debut full-length Errorzone – released under the simpler Vein moniker – shot them onto many a radar with its genre-smashing savagery, while its remixed follow-up arrived in 2020 to provide even further proof of a band for whom boundaries are there to be broken. Their incoming second full-length, This World Is Going To Ruin You, takes that further still, and in doing so marks Vein.fm out as one of the most potent forces in the entire scene – one which will no doubt be remembered accordingly when they come to write the book on the current era of metallic hardcore.
Let’s start with the obvious; This World is utterly savage. All of the band’s most feral and tortured edges remain, and if anything they’ve somehow upped the already mesmeric intensity of Errorzone. Not convinced? Check out the 55-second freak-out of third track “Versus Wyoming”, or the genre-phobic violence of lead single “The Killing Womb” that directly precedes it. Indeed, the band tear through the first ten tracks on the record in a whiplash-inducing 20 minutes, with vocalist Anthony DiDio’s anguished screams pulling a bleak and pained through-line through much of the album’s most neck-snapping chaoticism.
If that makes them sound pressed for time, Vein.fm definitely don’t let it paint them into a corner on This World. Fourth track and second single “Fear In Non Fiction” features a guest appearance from none other than Thursday’s Geoff Rickly, who provides perhaps the expected massive post-hardcore chorus, while the three track run of “Wherever You Are”, “Magazine Beach” and “Inside Design” touches on moody piano-led menace, ethereal alt-metal style washes, and nu-metal-esque turntable scratching in that order. Crucially, for a record that takes in as much as it does, This World evolves smoothly and naturally, with the end result being an album that definitely works best as an expansive and cohesive whole.
As an overall journey, it’s hard to think of many hardcore records that nail it as much as This World does. After its breathless first 20 minutes, the band round out the record in masterful fashion with final single “Wavery” and closer “Funeral Sound”. The two tracks alone take up more than a third of the album’s total runtime, and they make full use of every second. Both are quite unlike anything the band have ever really done before, and yet both still feel quintessentially Vein.fm. They’re dynamic tracks, sprawling across lengthier runtimes as they build from moments of quiet despondency into some of the most arresting heaviness the band have ever delivered. The latter in particular closes the record on a devastatingly powerful note, its seven-minute runtime providing a perhaps surprisingly melodic masterwork in emotionally gut-punching catharsis.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Of course, there’s probably no such thing as a perfect album, but even by the ridiculously high standards set by bands like Code Orange in recent years, it’s hard to find a single fault with This World Is Going To Ruin You. With it, Vein.fm prove beyond any doubt that they are one of the scene’s very finest, and to be honest they could stake a very justifiable claim for the crown. Listen to this record, buy this record, and make sure you shout about it because it really is something special.