Rocker (feedbot)
Platinum Member
Okay –I Promise The World are a young, upcoming metalcore band, freshly signed to Rise Records and they’re are starting 2026 with a new self-titled EP. So far, so good, but what makes them unusual is that their sound is heavily indebted to 2006 – like, everything about it could be lifted from mainstream screamo records released the year the band’s members were born. It’s absolutely fascinating, and thankfully, it’s also really good.
Due to the internet’s ability to collapse eras, trends and fashions seem to swirl around in a strange melting pot; Massive jeans are back, people have mullets and moustaches by choice – and here we have a new band whose sound was once pervasive but dropped out of style. Until now. Rise Records think there’s a thirst for it, that it – the past – is also the future. This might sound counterintuitive but it’s actually more of a reset; time and evolution made this kind of metalcore scarce, leaving a gap in the market; I Promised The World are here to fill it.
Watch the video for leading single ‘Bliss In 7 Languages’ – it’s the best example, everything about it, the breakdowns, the style, the look, the feel could be a 2006 single by August Burns Red/ Misery Signals/I Killed the Prom Queen/Darkest Hour/It Dies Today. All six songs have this style and hit certain beats; vicious, snotty howls from Hunter Wilson, metal riffs, lead guitars and a huge clean singing part sandwiched around a slow arpeggio part in the middle. You’re not getting a short sharp one or an epic expansive one either, showing the limit of their sound. That said ‘Future Worth Dying For’ is pleasingly pacey, while ‘Emerald Waltz’ uses those slow, picked guitars to give it a sense of majesty.
The way clean vocalist Caleb Molina wraps his voice around the sung parts give their music an emotional honesty, one that leans heavily into that mid 2000’s sound. It’s slightly disorientating, not least because of the oh, that reminds me of… feel, but it does have personality. It’s confident, even exciting and a massive step up from their previous EPs, not least because to doesn’t sound like it was recorded in a Portaloo.
Rise Records had a reputation for releasing records with flaccid mainstream production designed to soften the rough edges of screamo, of all things – this release redresses that balance. Sure, Molina’s vocals give it wide appeal, but it’s not afraid to be nasty. The production from Jon Markson and Adam Cichocki make it sound thrilling – the bass, the guitar tone, the edge, it all has a kind of youthful exuberance; high, expressive, emo.
It’s an impressive, likeable record, given a boost by its exciting production. I Promised the World want us to party like it’s 2007, we’re all here for that.
IAN KENWORTHY
Due to the internet’s ability to collapse eras, trends and fashions seem to swirl around in a strange melting pot; Massive jeans are back, people have mullets and moustaches by choice – and here we have a new band whose sound was once pervasive but dropped out of style. Until now. Rise Records think there’s a thirst for it, that it – the past – is also the future. This might sound counterintuitive but it’s actually more of a reset; time and evolution made this kind of metalcore scarce, leaving a gap in the market; I Promised The World are here to fill it.
Watch the video for leading single ‘Bliss In 7 Languages’ – it’s the best example, everything about it, the breakdowns, the style, the look, the feel could be a 2006 single by August Burns Red/ Misery Signals/I Killed the Prom Queen/Darkest Hour/It Dies Today. All six songs have this style and hit certain beats; vicious, snotty howls from Hunter Wilson, metal riffs, lead guitars and a huge clean singing part sandwiched around a slow arpeggio part in the middle. You’re not getting a short sharp one or an epic expansive one either, showing the limit of their sound. That said ‘Future Worth Dying For’ is pleasingly pacey, while ‘Emerald Waltz’ uses those slow, picked guitars to give it a sense of majesty.
The way clean vocalist Caleb Molina wraps his voice around the sung parts give their music an emotional honesty, one that leans heavily into that mid 2000’s sound. It’s slightly disorientating, not least because of the oh, that reminds me of… feel, but it does have personality. It’s confident, even exciting and a massive step up from their previous EPs, not least because to doesn’t sound like it was recorded in a Portaloo.
Rise Records had a reputation for releasing records with flaccid mainstream production designed to soften the rough edges of screamo, of all things – this release redresses that balance. Sure, Molina’s vocals give it wide appeal, but it’s not afraid to be nasty. The production from Jon Markson and Adam Cichocki make it sound thrilling – the bass, the guitar tone, the edge, it all has a kind of youthful exuberance; high, expressive, emo.
It’s an impressive, likeable record, given a boost by its exciting production. I Promised the World want us to party like it’s 2007, we’re all here for that.
IAN KENWORTHY