Miss May I – Curse Of Existence (SharpTone Records)

We can’t discuss extreme underground music without mentioning Miss May I, a modern metalcore group hailing from Troy, Ohio. The band will drop their highly anticipated seventh studio album, Curse Of Existence, on September 2nd via SharpTone Records. SharpTone Records were kind enough to share the album ahead of the release date, so I thought it would be more than appropriate to share a review with you today. Curse Of Existence has a profound meaning for the band. It explores themes such as uncertainty of mental health struggles, the isolation of the global shutdown, and the perspective gained from the most extensive time away from the road of each adult’s life. The years under Covid, strict restrictions, shutdowns, quarantine, and isolation have affected us all, so even if you are not into technically demanding metalcore sound, you can still relate to the Curse Of Existence thematically.

Curse Of Existence carries ten excellent compositions where the entire band goes completely to extremes by pushing the boundaries of their abilities to the max. This material is fully stacked with superb song structures, a good sense of arranging, brilliant ideas, exceptional musicianship, and all other qualities that define flawlessly executed metalcore albums. The sheer amount of melodies, harmonies, themes, riffs, shreds, licks, and other sonic delicacies performed on guitars will blow your mind. The guitars are continuously dueling throughout the entire album. You’ll notice how the rhythm bursts with technically demanding riffs while the lead emits the beforementioned melodies, harmonies, themes, solos, etc. Speaking of dueling, it seems like the profoundly aggressive and much mellower segments are continuously switching during the Curse Of Existence, but every song is perfectly balanced.

Extremely massive low-end tones delivered by skillful bass player undoubtedly contribute to the massiveness of this material. It resonates like that thick layer of basslines right beneath the guitar channels awaits to crush every single bone in your body. Nothing would sound so dynamic, energetic, and stable without exquisite drumming performance. The drummer keeps the entire band in line by delivering complex rhythmic sequences, half-time beats, blastbeats, various accentuations, and ultrafast drum fills. Of course, impressive vocal performance ranges from the lowest growls you could imagine to the hellish, high-pitched screams. There’s also a satisfying amount of classic hardcore shoutouts and ear-appealing clean chants, so the vocal performance is as diverse as the remainder of the orchestrations included on Curse Of Existence. Perhaps this is metalcore in its essence, but you can vividly hear that many complementary music genres inspired Miss May I to produce such an outstanding album. You’ll notice ingredients borrowed from hardcore, modern hardcore, melodic hardcore, post-hardcore, mathcore, post-metal, death metal, black metal, grind, djent, and even alternative metal. Miss May I nailed with Curse Of Existence by all means, and you should check out this album if you’re knee-deep into metalcore music. The album drops on September 2nd via SharpTone Records, so don’t miss it!