MAVIS – Grief Is No Ally
Release Date: 15th December 2023
Label: Arising Empire
Order/Stream
Genre: Modern Metalcore
FFO: Northlane, Erra, While She Sleeps, Architects.
Review By: Metal Miguel
Eleven tracks from the German quartet that is MAVIS and their debut album “Grief Is No Ally” which is a fine release into the metalcore genre. A solid offering of music that has a mixture of clean harmonious tracks with solid metal power breakdowns that have you nodding with a sense that you have welcomed an old friend back into the fold. Their execution of this album feels like you’ve always known they were there, relatively new but somehow, you’re aware of it at the same time. Perhaps this is a genre thing, and you could liken them to others within the same genre, but I’m not so sure it’s that simple, then again it could be just that simple and as the winter nights draw in and the year closes out, I could be suffering from winter delirium, allowing the nonsense to flow out.
Listen to the album, if you are a fan of the melodious harmonies of the metal-core genre and like the neck-breaking beatdowns and riffs spliced with vocals, lovely guitar tones and beat-heavy drums driving the songs then you should be all over this bad boy. I was struggling to add more songs to my favourites of 2023, but I feel I may just have found another winner just as we close out the year. I guess I have fond memories of Caliban back in the mid-2000s and this album reminds me of them, but only a small portion, as MAVIS, definitely has their take and slant on things, maybe it’s the German thing, but that just leaves me open to attack for the marginalisation of a nation and their approach to metal music, which is ridiculous but needed to be highlighted as I’m thinking it – these reviews are free-flowing from the brain to the page.
To get such a long album on a debut is good, and the variety of songs is a good cross-section of the band’s writing and performing ability. I’m sure if they stick to this trajectory, then they will no doubt provide some more blistering musical efforts in the future. If they can pull it off live too, then they will be an unstoppable force going forward, which will be great value for anyone who is a fan of the melodic metalcore of a new era. They have a clear thirst to write defining songs and produce the highest quality, which is a testament to the producer, perhaps this steady start will help build on top of the foundation they have spent so long crafting, to create more enjoyable albums.
(4 / 5)
