Band:	Fromjoy
Album:	Fromjoy
Style:	Mathcore, Metalcore
Release date:	April 2023

01. Accela
02. Morbidly Perfect [feat. Connor Sweeney]
03. Docility [feat. PeelingFlesh]
04. Eros
05. Of The Shapes Of Hearts And Humans
06. Machine
07. Seraph [feat. iRis.EXE]
08. Fromjoy
09. Helios
10. Icarus

If one were in the mood to listen to some music in a genre ending in -core, there’s a lot to choose between: hardcore, metalcore, deathcore, mathcore, grindcore? For the more indecisive listener that wants a bit of each of these, consider trying out Fromjoy.

What makes this diversity impressive is the short runtime in which it is all found; the Texans’ self-titled sophomore release is a mere 26 minutes, which itself is 6 minutes longer than their debut. If nothing else, such brevity firmly plants Fromjoy within [insert prefix here]-core territory. However, it does also mean that a smorgasbord of ideas are being crammed into a compact package; the end result of this is that Fromjoy is somewhat overwhelming on first listen. Still, if one has the time to replay it and get to grips with its inner workings, it’s easy to be swayed by what the group are striving to achieve here.

Now, Fromjoy doesn’t jump between all the genres mentioned in the introduction incessantly throughout the record; on the whole, this is more so a mathy metallic hardcore record than anything else. It might not seem so from the first 3 songs, however; a ballistic grindcore opening to first track “Accela” gets the record off to an explosive start, while “Morbidly Perfect” is the first real exhibit of Fromjoy’s frenetic mathcore capabilities, being perhaps the most jagged song on the record. “Docility” is anything but docile; from a mathcore introduction, it turns into a hardcore song, up until the ending, where guest PeelingFlesh contributes gutturals for a brutal deathcore breakdown.

After this trio of songs, there’s a bit more stability on the -core front; however, the record still throws up surprises, mainly in how it explores non-metallic sounds. After the aforementioned grindcore opening to “Accela”, the track takes a sharp turn into electronic territory, the second half featuring dreamy synths and a slick IDM beat, as well as some evocative clean vocals, even if there are also bursts of blast beats or rolling double bass drums. Fromjoy’s longest song, “Of The Shapes Of Hearts And Humans”, serves up hardcore aggression, but also incorporates further dreamy synth ambience, clean vocal melody (including both male and female voices dancing around one another), and delicate piano glimmering in the background throughout.

The surprises keep coming, none more so than with “Seraph”. Fluidly shifting between various forms of intensity early on, it starkly shifts around the minute mark into breakcore, just for a brief moment, but the gentler clean female singing that appears in this snippet comes back when the song detours later into serene soundscapes. Fromjoy incorporate a fair share of mathcore; there’s also space for djent in this album’s fabric, as “Seraph” concludes its short but hectic journey with a djenty atmospheric breakdown in the vein of Invent Animate. There’s more djent on “Helios”, where the percussive gnarl of the rhythm section underpins a quasi-interlude that otherwise owes itself musically to 80s synthpop, from the keyboard tone to the soulful saxophone.

The fact that I’m not close to fully summarizing the extent of the genre-hopping on Fromjoy should give a good indicator of how varied the journey through the album is; however, it’s not an obnoxious experience listening to this record. The jumping around is initially a lot to handle, but on second and third listens, being prepared for these changes helps them to feel a lot better thought out and effective. It’s certainly one of the most interesting records that will be released in any of its constituent genres this year, and it has enough chops in terms of riffs and grooves to back up the eclecticism.