Buzz Sound: Holder

Artist: Holder, the five-piece of vocalist Brie, guitarists Bradley and Avery, bassist Alex, and drummer Avery

Location: Western Massachusetts

Buzz: The rising Western Massachusetts band Holder released their self-titled debut on the great Connecticut underground hardcore label DAZE at the edge of last year right when there was a whole lot of other great music happenings going on. The listen — a raw, brutalist modern rendering on the heaviest kind of screamo — got placed into heavy rotation in itself around here post-list season. For the uninitiated, you may want to do yourself a favor and start there and brace for impact.

That they’ve played shows with luminaries Shai Halud and Skycamefalling as well as the very buzzy Balmora and febuary is firmly an indication that they’re well on their way to becoming a name to be reckoned with, so it’s really exciting to hear that the first-names-only five-piece are already back to capitalized on the momentum with their newly-released EP (or is it a double A-side single?) entitled Ruin The Best of Me.

We’ve been hearing a lot of music in the extended hardcore realm lately sounding like it’s set on fire with the world around it, and while Holder compliment that energy perfectly as well, they’re also doing it with their hearts pressed into their throats. On its front half’s listen, “Inconsolable”, Brie’s cold-handed, spine-busting lyrical fragments splatter cathartically across its towering collapse of foundation-shattering riffage and rhythms that fast destroy like a high-speed wrecking balls. On the other side with its title track, Holder do that, too, but stretch out their emotional capacity against an experimental tour-de-force.

The frighteningly promising part? This is only Holder consumed in small doses thus far…

Sound: Decades-deep knowledge of screamo history turned into maximalist devotionals rupturing out from the underground.

Recommended: Their newly-released EP, Ruin The Best of Me, last year’s Holder EP

Directed by: Company Car