ten56. – IO
Release Date: 5th September 2025
Label: Out of Line
Order/Stream
Genre: Deathcore, Nu-Metal.
FFO: Paleface Swiss, Darko US, King 810.
Review By: Jeff Finch
Coming off two reviews of bands I’ve never heard before, I can only assume my past self wanted to branch out, because today’s focus ten56. is another band whose music I had never heard before this and, given the type of music, that’s kind of shocking, as deathcore is a genre I flock to. After three straight albums of branching out, this reviewer can walk away pleased knowing that each selection was more than worthy of multiple listens, a perfect 3 for 3.
Purveyors of music with a bevy of different sounds, French metallers ten56. are a genuinely intriguing group. Combining deathcore, downbeat, industrial, and, the genre seeing a renaissance, Nu-metal, the soundscapes created on this album are head spinning: dense, layered, unsettling screams mixed with downbeat chugs and a St. Anger snare, opener Doormat lives up to its name, welcoming listeners to the chaos they’re about to experience.
Demonstrating their musical prowess, Pig is a back and forth between Nu-metal and Deathcore, a wildly chaotic cacophony that harkens back to Slipknot’s debut record, the rap/talking vocals in the forefront for the vast majority, a wall of Deathcore noise making its presence felt later in the track, a welcome reprieve as the vocal delivery on this track is often lacking genuine intrigue.
It’s at track 5, the first single from this album, I Know Where You Sleep, where the band kicks us in the teeth. Having gotten us chuckling a bit with the commercial that is LIFEISACHORE.MOV, the band relentlessly and mercilessly punishes listeners here, the song rife with deep death metal growls, blast beats, droning guitar tuned to make us deeply uncomfortable, an oppressive atmosphere leading us to the end a mere minute and a half after it began.
One aspect that’s notable about the band, gleaned very early, is the stark contrast between sounds, very often within the same stretch of song, that are hit or miss. Good Morning alternates moments of sheer brutality and rap/speaking vocals, those transitions jarring to say the least, made far more digestible when the rapping vocals combine with the growls and the band maintains a minimum mid-tempo pace. The group can do both sounds well, but there are artistic decisions made on this that don’t make sense, such as the intensely sudden shifts between clean rapping and deep growling.
On the opposite end of the artistic decision spectrum is the inclusion of industrial music and rhythms, such as on the song Earwig, a screeching noise in the background keeping the music from becoming stale, a smart move to keep listeners engaged so when they hit us with layered, demonic vocals, a breakdown with a hyped up lead guitar, and a tandem effort by the riffs and screeching in our chorus, they know we’re still listening and haven’t drifted off in oblivion. Maintaining their artistic decisions, the glacially oppressive ending to ICU, the unhinged vocals akin to Oklahoma noise rockers Chat Pile on Friends, and the thick, layered riffs following a Chad Grey type scream on Banshee demonstrate the bands willingness to throw the kitchen sink into the mix and make sure something gnarly comes out the other side, for better or worse.
With all of that having been said, on this new album IO, ten56. may have gained a new fan. There are moments on the album that are cringey and unpleasant, but there are also (far more) moments on this record that are captivating, relentless, thought-provoking, and just plain fun, these moments outweighing the negative but still not quite able to make it go away. However, when a band can drop an album of 12 songs (really 11 plus an interlude) where at least 9 of them are certified bangers, the release has to be treated as a win. And IO is a win.
(4 / 5)
