How It Ends So Shall It Be

“So Shall It Be” is the newest release from Philadelphia’s How It Ends. I have never heard of this band before, but, from the cover and song titles, I could guess how this album was going to sound When I started listening, I realized I wasn’t too far off. How It Ends plays tough, metal/hardcore, without much variety. But underneath it all, these guys have something else going on, that I will get to shortly. Almost without fail, these types of bands bore the shit out of me. There are countless bands that sound like this, and I really can’t relate to what they sing about. How It Ends reminds me a bit of A Death for Every Sin mixed with Diecast. There are some very upbeat songs that have lots of groove, and then, of course, the brutal breakdowns. Every song pretty much follows the same pattern. The vocals remind me very much of Diecast, without the melodic singing. There are some aspects of this record that kept me from hating it. There is some riffing that you don’t usually find on a typical metal/hardcore record. There are grooves that are reminiscent, at times, of old Clutch material, which really surprised me. There are also points throughout “So Shall It Be” that have a strong, southern metal influence (i.e., Pantera, Crowbar). I find this to be a bit refreshing, in an otherwise mediocre album, but, unfortunately, these moments are few and far between. The production on this album is quite decent, with nothing being overly high or low in the mix. It has a slightly muddy quality in the tones, but I think that’s what they were going for, and I think it really compliments their sound. I don’t really know what How It Ends were thinking, when it came to their layout, because it’s pretty lame. All the lyrics are printed in a tiny, Old English font, which makes it difficult to read. However, when I made out the lyrics, I was wishing I hadn’t, because they are rather generic and trite. Bottom Line: This is definitely not my thing, because I think there are enough tough-guy, metal/hardcore bands as it is, but How It Ends will probably appeal to every fan of this genre.Personally, I would like to see this band explore more of their metal and sludge/doom influences. This is decent release from a band that has potential to stand out from a really boring genre of hardcore.