A Night in Texas – The Darkest Side of Humanity
Release Date: 4th September 2026
Label: Unique Leader Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Technical Deathcore
FFO: To The Grave, Angelmaker, Aversions Crown, A Wake in Providence.
Review By: Jeff Finch
Look, I don’t want to come across as ignorant, but if this is what nights in Texas are like, I fear for their safety and they need help yesterday. Because A Night in Texas is synonymous with pure, unrelenting intensity and thirst for sonic destruction, Global Slaughter being a major highlight. This newest offering, The Darkest Side of Humanity, is a pummeling, relentless affront to the ear holes of anyone that doesn’t want utter madness and bedlam as part of their musical diet. But we’re listening to deathcore from A Night in Texas, so bring on the madness, the bedlam, the sheer intensity as they strap us into our seats and make us experience the darkness of a deep Texas twilight as imagined by a handful of pissed off Aussies.
It’s not just the tempo or in-your-face intensity the band brings that can leave a listener’s jaw on the floor, it’s the layer of sounds contained within the maelstrom: opening track Oblivions Dominion, in addition to the gnarly interplay between the vocals and the rhythm section, introduces a clean, but not overly punchy, violin to give the song a theatrical touch and bring even more focus to the remaining instruments, as the mind is thinking of that violin but getting aurally violated by everything else. Comedian George Carlin once quipped in his familiar expression bit “I will bet anything while you’re watching a quiet one, a noisy one will fucking kill you.” And the prophet that he was, he’s right, because when that violin catches the ears, the unfettered ferocity surrounding it yanks listeners back to reality, still the primary source of noise and chaos. But minor jokes aside, the band’s use of strings is quite brilliant. On Fed to Death, the string section crashes the party, a couple quick bursts of horror, the string scrapes ripped straight out of our nightmares and paving the way for more symphonic elements later on. Rest assured, these are not additions to just check the box, these are well fleshed out uses of symphony to dredge up even more discomfort.
In more standard fashion, the band’s virtually unstoppable pace occasionally makes it difficult to pull out individual pieces, outside of the eight armed beast behind the drum kit, because everything is cranked to 11 and fighting for dominance. So in later songs, like The Chronicles of Nihilism and The Infinite Maw, when listeners can pick out those demonically low notes, those utterly filthy, doom-drenched riffs, it’s an eye opener, as listeners really get a taste for just how punchy and powerful these riffs can be, so much so they outdo the rest of the band, an always impressive feat given their unwavering technicality and the bevy of snarling beast vocals on full display. Though primarily a deeper growl throughout, the many moments of high shrieks that pepper us ram the point home that somehow this band can get heavier, can be even more abrasive and unyielding in their thirst for deathcore greatness. As much as Rheese Peters is known for his precious tenure with the band, and thus a highly anticipated feature, it’s the track featuring Ryan Vail (Synestia/ Larcenia Roe) that takes home the prize for most unhinged performance in a vocal capacity. No joke, the song sounds like it was ripped straight off Global Slaughter and saved for this very record, one of those songs where the eyebrows arch and a slight smirk hits the face, the nonsensically heavy, piercing, animalistic shrieks of someone being dragged through a meat grinder hitting that point where it’s less like listening to deathcore and more like listening to an exorcism.
As is to be expected at this juncture of their career, A Night in Texas nailed it again. Their ferocity is almost unmatched, their compositions continually technical, furious displays of expert musicianship and songwriting, anger permeating through the speakers, displaying a complete and utter lack of regard for eardrums around the world. While the band could afford to let the guitars sit a bit more clearly in the mix, it’s a small nitpick among the otherwise stellar final product.
(4.5 / 5)
