Review: “Lost” by Soothsayer

Hailing from Abilene Texas are Soothsayer, a Metalcore collective who started out in 2019 as the project of vocalist Justin Puente and his wife, drummer Kali Puente alongside guitarist Hunter Haralson. They were soon joined by bassist Tim Hinojosa and second guitarist Josh Westerman before recording EP “Lost” with Luke Garrigus at Blackroom studios, who also mixed and mastered. It saw a 2020 release and despite the door slamming firmly shut on a the opportunity to share a stage with Combichrist, King 810 and A Killers Confession a year ago, they have forged ahead, currently recording singles for a debut album, breaking only to record a music video for “Aftermath” directed by Chris Honesto of REK Collective…

Seamlessly blending Metal sub-genres, there are elements of Metalcore combined with Metallic Hardcore and DJent within the four walls that hold “Aftermath” imprisoned on tape. The way that the band have managed to take their influences and create a single track in this fashion is testament to their skills as musicians. Post-Hardcore melodies, rap screams, bone crunching breakdowns, its all here, present and correct. In fact the only people really describing Soothsayer as Metalcore are the quintet themselves and there is so much more going on here that genre tags pretty much go out of the window by the time “Hourglass” hits. Rich in melody but also having plenty of weight and gravity with gritty lyrics that are integral to the bands sound, Soothsayer have thrown out the rule book on this one as they’re not afraid to cross borders or boundaries in any way, shape or form. There is plenty of bounce in “Roulette” which comes out swinging after the somewhat raw emotional performance of Justin Puente the previous cut, his throat scratching vocal performances the glue that knits together these tracks and again the diversity within this one makes it really special. You could go as far as to argue that it goes from Volumes to Counterparts and back in stylings. All of the tracks here have a certain cathartic quality with a pinch of angst and if you take them in conjunction with the band name meaning a person who predicts the future by magical, intuitive or more rational means, the future could be pretty bleak. But here’s the thing; most of Justin Puente’s lyrics aren’t actually about the future; they live in reflections and interpretations of the past, in his current emotional state and the title track is a prime example as he searches for where he belongs amid some stunning Progressive Metalcore guitar work. Flipping the script “Iscariot” brings spine juddering staccato riffs and polyrhythms that play over the top of some more sinister leads, partially buried in the weight of the mix. A spleen venting affair, it plays out like an early career cut from Reflections and is everything that the Tech-Metal scene kills for on a regular basis. Finale “Deceiver” builds on everything else that the band do here and creates something both stunningly beautiful and ugly and self destructive at the same time; so where do this band go from here? Can they maintain the stunning complexities they’ve created going forward or will refinement mean a stripping back of some of those in the future? Only time will tell [8/10]

Track listing

1. Aftermath
2. Hourglass
3. Roulette
4. Lost
5. Iscariot
6. Deceiver

“Lost” by Soothsayer is out now