I’m fortunate to have the friends I have. They’re a very diverse, awesome set of people, that have tastes ranging from the most known, to the least known. From the religious, to the non. It’s not often an unsigned band shines through the thick mist of today’s mediocrity. But tonight my friends, I tell you that I’ve been introduced to one such band, who seeks to bring us a fresh wind of much needed metalcore. Please turn your attention to the young Christians from Williamsport, PA. They call themselves My Heart To Fear, and this monstrous titan they’ve created, is called Into The Maelstrom. Now, as previously said, I was introduced to this band, I didn’t find them myself. My friend also mentioned that, also previously stated, they’re unsigned. Sadly enough, I don’t take well to bands who haven’t hit the limelight. I’m a sucker for a band who can find the professional production. Typically, unsigned bands have a hard time finding good production, or not at all, often producing their early material themselves. I’m not sure who produced this album, but the production is absolutely top notch. The guitar tone is very deep, heading into an almost deathcore-esque tone. The drums sound crisp, the bass shines through in several moments throughout the album, and their synth and vocals are especially crisp in their own right. Anyway, I’m betting you, the reader, didn’t come here to read about production. You want the details, right? I can try to sit here and detail each song on this album, but trust me when I say, this isn’t as easy of a task as you might think. This is metalcore, yes. But this is GOOD metalcore. I’d damn say this is GREAT metalcore. Take the heaviness and synthesizer eeriness of Motionless In White and The Word Alive, stir it, toss in the technical riffing of Parkway Drive and For Today, stir some more, and then…well, honestly, I can’t find a vocalist that matches the screams of Trevol Pool, or the cleans of Trevor and drummer Luke Brady combined. But the vocals accent the power behind the instruments very, very well. Though I did name drop to familiarize their sound, this album doesn’t sound quite like much of the metalcore world today. Not one song on this album sounds the same. And all of it is spectacular. Passionate gang vocals, powerful lyrics, deep cleans, harsh screams, extremely well accented guitar work courtesy of Dale Upright and Jay Graham, crisp drumming from Luke Brady, sharp bass lines provided by Taylor Pool, and the breakdowns… Forgive me, but I want to break off for a second to mention the breakdowns on this album. Yes, breakdowns are only a fragment of what is supposed to be a good metalcore band. But these gentlemen have made some nasty, evil, destructive, blood pumping breakdowns. Some contain eerie synth, others are blended with some insane Within The Ruins-esque riff work, even more are combined with Trevor’s screams in a frantic and powerful manner. I found myself jaw dropped at each of their breakdowns as I rode on the waves of this powerhouse album. Even more jaw dropping was the transitions between breakdowns, choruses, verses, and the occasional jazz sections thrown in, which are very reminiscent to the fellow Pennsylvanians we know as August Burns Red. As I said before, it’s hard to pinpoint the songs on this album, detail by detail. Every song is different, brutal, beautiful, and nasty. If you love heavy music of ANY kind, you’d be hard pressed to not give this album a good, interruption-less listen. To try and explain more about this album would be counter productive. This is an unsigned band, with an amazing start to their career. Find this album somewhere, download it, order it from their Facebook, and indulge yourself. And just hope that one day, a record label will happen across this album, and make their name huge. They deserve every ounce of respect and acknowledgement for the amount of force, passion, and spirit they’ve packed into one album. Long live this band. 
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