All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us

Personnel: Sam Carter (vocals); Tom Searle (guitar, strings, brass, programming, electronics); Adam Christianson (guitar); Dan Searle (drums, programming, electronics).Audio Mixer: Henrik Udd.Recorded in Gothenburg, Sweden, the Brighton, England-based metalcore unit's seventh studio long-player is as relentlessly heavy and doggedly melodramatic as 2014's well-received Lost Forever, Lost Together. It's also much, much better. Doubling down on the expansiveness of the latter release, All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us is both bedazzling and bewildering, an icy blast of politically charged apocalypse theater that pleases the eyes, but never ceases to box the listener's ears. That the band conduct such sonic malevolence from a platform built on veganism and environmental activism is both refreshing -- this is a genre that's often swimming in neediness, non-specific rage, and self-absorption -- and compelling. The reverb-heavy production work from Fredrik Nordström, which is likely informed by