Ultra Heavy Records
September 30
Words by Erin Eddy
How to make a Lotus cocktail: First, you’ll need your main ingredient, deathcore – at least half a glassful. Then you’ll want to add a liberal amount of metalcore and nu-metal, and a decent splash of trap and slam. Add a portion of cyber-metal, sprinkle through a nip of pop and hip hop, then blend and drink up.
Within Destruction have created a hard-hitting and diverse record with their latest release, Lotus, which is quite frankly a consistently massive affair from beginning to end.
Their previous album, Yokai, gave us a feel of the direction the band were headed, and Lotus has simply improved on that formula. The blending of genres and the overall feel of what Within Destruction are doing will possibly see some OG fans shy away from the band, but I think this evolution is only going to open them up to a wider audience.
Comprised of 12 songs in total, Lotus is a delicious clash of groove-meets-aggression, with thought-provoking lyrics. The album has so far seen the release of five singles, Nightmare, Survival, Scars, Dying World and Toxic.
Probably one of the standout features of this record is the introduction of clean vocals, a first for Within Destruction. This was first showcased via the release of Nightmare, which features an earworm of a clean chorus, and this is carried on throughout many of the songs on the album. While the signature savage riffs and brutality of Within Destruction remains intact, it’s obvious that the band had a real focus on melodic elements, hooks and catchy choruses with this project.
The production on Lotus is notably improved from their previous releases, and vocalist Rok Rupnik explained in a recent interview with HEAVY that great effort was made on vocal production in particular. One listen to this record and that is very evident. There is a clarity and fluidity to the harsh vocals that I don’t think was present on 2016’s Void or 2018’s Deathwish, and the inclusion of clean vocals brings about a contemporary and dynamic element that is really engaging to the listener.
The band have put their best foot forward with the tracks they have chosen to release as singles, but there honestly isn’t a weak moment on this record in my opinion. Songs like Lotus, Revenge and Neo-Yukuza are equally as strong as any of the five singles. Illusions really struck a chord with me, as an individual who would choose the red pill – lyrics like “reality is the illusion” is a theme I can jive with.
The more times I listened to Lotus, the more obsessed I became with it, and I’m now kicking myself for not catching their live show when they were in the country earlier this year.
If you want a contemporary, extremely tight and monstrous collection of heavy songs that make you want to sing along as much as they make you want to engage in destruction, make sure you get around Lotus. It has qualified as one of my favourite releases of 2022.
The genre blending of this record is a shining example of the way heavy music is diversifying, and with bands like Within Destruction at the helm, the evolution of metal is in good hands.
