Release Date: September 9, 2022
Genre: Metalcore, Post-Hardcore
Label: Fearless Records
Until I Wake is a post-hardcore/metalcore band based out of Buffalo, New York. With the release of their anticipated first full-length studio record, Inside My Head, on September 9th via Fearless Records. I found out about Until I Wake early at the start of 2022, and from what I heard, I was interested in the releases. The band actually went with two producers with this release, Nick Matzkows and Jon Eberhard, who have produced acts such as I Prevail, Conquer Divide, and The True Blue. For the record, they say, had influences from acts like Pierce The Veil, Linkin Park, Underoath, blessthefall, and Bring Me The Horizon. For myself, the only notable influence I hear was Linkin Park, as Until I Wake has those rap vocals in their music already. As for a first record release, solid but could have done better with better mastering and mixing for future projects. The album starts off with an intro with "Sacrifice." With some crazy demonic character that starts off the album. But it goes straight off the bat with hard screams from "Forsaken." The song had a great catchy chorus and some very notable hard-hitting guitars that I enjoyed. "Fake" is a song that reminds me of Until I Wake when I first heard the band. It actually gives that kind of slow rap vibe as Papa Roach and Linkin Park, but with the metal screams in the back half of the song, but with large clean vocals as well. Overall it's a good song. Next up is "Octane." On my first listen, the song never got me hooked. After a few listens, again, I just still couldn't get into it. Maybe it was because the mixing sounded off. It's one of those tracks for me that doesn't "wow" me. As I know, this band can make some great overall tracks. The breakdown was good but still didn't change my mind. "Reasons" I really enjoyed. It was a good bop of the head song that I just got into, and was listening to this in my car and realized its perfect for that great type of song. "hope ur happy" is a good song, but also to me, was better than "Octane." I think "hope ur happy" is a good album filler track to listen to, but I don't mind it if you're listening to the album front to back. It has everything from the band that they're known for if you're talking about the rap aspect of it.
"Inside My Head" was actually the first song I heard from Until I Wake. Funny enough, they put it on the record. I haven't heard of it after so long, I'm now realizing it's just an okay track. It didn't really wow me, but it was a nice listen to again after so long not hearing it. "Still Sinking" is another great song. I loved the different themes, the instrumentals, the high vocals, and overall it's a great track. "Undeserving" is what it says, it's undeserving to me as it went by way too quickly. Nice little touch as every record needs a slower kind of song on it. Thus "Undeserving" does that. "Blue Beam" is the track that, to me, really set the tone of the record. It needed a bit better mixing but was decent in a sense. It's the hardest track on the record, just screams the whole time. No cleans, just guitars ripping through everything. But also I enjoy having a balance between cleans and non-cleans as well.
"For the Record" was a good bopping song right off the start. When the song started off right away, I'm just thinking, this will be a great song to hear live for sure, and the crowd would love it. It's definitely a catchy song with that chorus, but I think they need a better master for it. "Legacy" was my favourite on the record. Catchy chorus, catchy instrumental, and loved the vocals so much. Just everything about that track, I just can't get out of my head and I keep going back to it as I'm writing this review. The album finishes with "Marching Forward," and they went with a hard closer but had some cleans on it to fix it up. It has some very nice arena smack with the drums that I loved at the end from Until I Wake. Until I Wake put together a solid debut album with some banger tracks. I wish they had some better mixing and mastering on some of the tracks on Inside My Head, but other than those minor issues, we got a great album from them. I'm excited to see what Until I Wake does in the future, and hopefully, they're going to be able to do a huge tour for this record. Be sure to pre-save or preorder a physical copy of Inside My Head here.
