PROMPTS ‘PARASITE DREAM’
Featuring members from both Japan and South Korea, the Japan-based outfit Prompts dropped their new EP Parasite Dream on June 16th via Greyscale Records in partnership with Papercut Records (US). Reminiscent of other bands from Japan like Crossfaith, Crystal Lake, and Paledusk, Prompts are part of this huge East Asian and Oceanian cohort of bands who lean into hyperreal production and crispness with bone-crushing heaviness and, to varying degrees, a willingness (and for a band like Paledusk an imperative) to incorporate different sonic elements into their music. It’s a crowded field full of bands who do what they do extremely well, full of the perils of on the one hand, playing it too straight and getting lost in the shuffle, or on the other getting too zany and random and becoming what I call “spaghetticore” (throw everything at the wall and see what sticks). Further, the cost of embracing this branch of metalcore’s adoption of pristine production is inevitably a certain uniformity, which each act must weigh against the fact that it does sound really good. So how do Prompts fare here?
“Sun Eater” opens the EP with an auditory onslaught of manic energy, blast beats, and skronkiness. At about 1:20, there’s this interesting little drum and bass-esque part, which sets up the visceral explosion that follows, culminating in a savage breakdown. From there, the band moves into dreamy territory to finish the song, which is followed by “Edgerunner,” a ferociously cathartic burst that mines deathcore and djent that will surely ignite the pit. Some cleans and melodicism finish the track, but honestly, I felt that didn’t add anything to it and probably should’ve been cut. In a similar vein, later in the EP comes “Stranger.” There’s a strong breakdown and some really interesting musicianship in the heavy parts, with the riffs running the spectrum of metalcore at light-speed; the track does, however, get bogged down by a generic chorus. “Weirdo” is a well-executed metalcore song, but it hews far too closely to Doomsday-era Architects to be memorable. “Drowning” is very Thornhill-esque with some vaguely industrial-goth touches.
“Deceiver” and “Death of Me” are two tracks that evidence the yin and yang of what this band is capable of and which also suggest the future heights to which they might climb. “Deceiver” has these two brutally heavy sections that serve as the slices of bread to the ethereal “meat” of the middle of the track, with some glitchy/industrial touches throughout. “Death of Me” is a beautiful song, melancholy and full of yearning akin to Architects’ “Hollow Crown.” The peaks of the EP are significant and they may yet be higher for the band; the valleys are valleys of competence not cringe. So the answer to the question is that Prompts do, indeed, fare well, even if they don’t fully elbow out their own space in the scene.
