Employed to Serve – Fallen Star (Spinefarm)

2021’s Conquering saw Employed to Serve adding a more metallic fury to their sound, something that gave them a more potent mixture from their hardcore ethos. Four years later, they have returned with Fallen Star, which again sees them taking a sonic leap ahead. Increased thrashy tempos, increased diversity, and more of everything gives them even stronger footing than before. It doesn’t take long to see that this is their strongest effort to date.

It seems a bit of a faux pas to simply label Employed to Serve as a metalcore act. Certainly by textbook definition, there’s metal and there’s hardcore, but that’s just scratching the surface. Add in some more varied and progressive song writing strucuture and intricacies, atmospheric flourishes, and even some rock and nu metal tapped in make for a modern tapestry that doesn’t color within the lines. On the heavier end of things, you have the thrash-battered opener “Treachery” where pummeling riffs trade blows with massive grooves in a way that’s sure to warm you up for more. Then you have the visceral, bordering on death metal pounding of “Atonement,” which only eases off the brutality for some incredibly catchy cleans from Will Ramos (of Lorna Shore). The visceral metalcore of “Whose Side Are You On” tosses in some playful melodies inside it’s throttling riffs (and fantastic vocal interplay with Jesse Leach of Killswitch Engage).

If melodies are more your thing, there’s plenty of those as well. “Last Laugh” positions itself with poignant atmosphere and gloom in one of the album’s strongest and most resounding cuts. The way it paints emotions between the snarls of Justine Jones and guest Serena Cherry (Svalbard) is thrilling stuff. “Breaks Me Down” tosses out some nu metal grooves amid it’s progressive swirls and graceful electronic pulsations. Then there’s the title track, which elegantly slows down from more ripping tempos to deliver a soaring melodic chorus that would put most traditional metalcore acts to shame. The album ends on a note of triumph, with some uplifting melodies on “From This Day Foward” giving things a bit of resolution and urges the listener to hit repeat.

Continuing to step up their game across the board, Employed to Serve are at their best here. It’s appropriately teethed with heaviness, yet it’s in the little extras that they toss in, from the progressive and atmospheric, that really let the album stand out and shine. Fallen Star provides stompable energy, but with equal amounts of substance and heart put in too.