Progressive metalcore outfit, Erra, have released their fourth full-length album titled Neon today. This has been the highly anticipated follow-up to their 2016 release, Drift, which saw them gain a broader following with the addition of JT Cavey, formerly of Texas in July, at the helm of vocal duties. The great thing about this release is that they took the great sound they had and enhanced it with better production so that the drums don’t sound plastic and the clean vocals, provided by the ever-talented Jesse Cash, are polished up to become the driving force of this album. The djent-heavy guitar work will grab you and weave you in and out of the track list while you get wrapped up in each and every chorus that Jesse belts out with almost as much tenacity as he plays the guitar. As I said above, the main power behind the success of this album lies in the voice of Cash. His voice, while not the most refined, hits right on the money as you can hear the emotion of each and every line. This is a great counter to the screams from Cavey which while still supplying the force needed still remain just a bit too monotone. The album begins with “Breach” a soft-starting song that throws you off balance while the guitars come suddenly, carrying with them the screams of Cavey to announce that they are still the hard-hitters of years past. I found that the songs on Neon have a significantly more amount of clean vocal parts than Drift, and like I pointed to above, this is great. Songs such as “Signal Fire” and “Ghost of Nothing” are true highlights of the album. Before you realize it, the album is finding its conclusion with the mesmerizing “Ultimata”. I absolutely loved this song and I think that it is one of the only last songs on an album that have stuck with me in quite some time. The chorus rings out in your ears, leaving you wanting them to play through it one more time until the instruments fade out and Cash’s repeated lines of “Home is undefined/Hope you left behind” accompanied by softly rising synthesizers grip you and hold onto you long after the album is done.
Top 3 songs:
Ultimate, Ghost of Nothing, Valhalla
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