EP Name: Fire & Fear
Artist: Failed Star
Released: April 2024
Rating: 7/10
Tracklist
Intro
The Mandalorian
Atlantis
Endless Mindloop
Melodic metalcore outfit Failed Star have released their debut EP 'Fire & Fear'. Drawing metalcore inspiration from the likes of As I Lay Dying or Parkway Drive, with a melodic spin and modern aspects, Failed Star are a relatively new band in the scene. The six-piece formed during the Covid pandemic in 2020 and are now delivering their first mini-EP release. The intro to 'Fire & Fear' is a synthy, otherworldy sound that welcomes you into the world of Failed Star. Soon follows the first full track 'The Mandalorian', this is gritty and dark metalcore at it's best. The vocals are demonic over the Stampede of the drums and the low rhythmic guitars. I have to say I was instantly very impressed by this track and was even more impressed when the soaring clean vocals took over in the chorus, giving Failed Star a whole other element to their sound. 'Atlantis' in my opinion takes Failed Star up another level. Where 'The Mandalorian' is a nice little starter that gets you warmed up, 'Atlantis' is the main course. This one will have you headbanging along with the heavy attack and brutal melody of the verses, while also letting you slow down for a minute and enjoy the angelic edge of the chorus. 'Atlantis' feels firmly rooted in that melodic metalcore sound that Failed Star have. Lastly on 'Fire & Fear' is 'Endless Mindloop' which is my personal favourite on the EP. This one feels bigger and has more electronic elements within, making it tie in more with the opening intro. There's a lot more shown of the clean vocals within 'Endless Mindloop' and I am a really big fan of when the clean and hard vocalist are singing together. This one feels a lot less instrumentally focused leaning more into the emotions in the vocals, doing the typical closing the EP with a ballad, or I guess a heavy metalcore version of a ballad. For a first release Failed Star have released a four-track EP that could be enjoyed by any heavy music lover. Especially vocally these guys have a lot of talent and I can see them becoming quite popular in the scene. Check out 'Fire & Fear' and maybe Failed Star could feature on your metalcore playlists.
Listen to 'Fire & Fear' HERE
Failed Star online
