EP REVIEW: Cainhurst – A Ceremony

an EP that is simply brimming with promise. Cainhurst have laid their artistic cards on the table, and what is shown is exciting to behold

Author’s Note: The final day in Catch-Up Week! With only a few new releases to look at before the year is out, we’ll take one final look at one release that slipped under the radar! – Ryan

The final entry for catch-up week comes in the form of the debut EP of southwest emoviolence outfit Cainhurst. Dropping back in August, their four-track project ‘A Ceremony’ is a ferocious experience to behold, perfectly balancing pure brutality with sprawling emo melancholy.

Certainly, the raw aggression of powerviolence and adjacent genres has a certain catharsis, and Cainhurst captures that perfectly on tracks such as the ‘What You Let Get Too Close’, a track that rips by with thunderous fury in under two minutes.

Things really shine, however, when the band truly weave in some emo melodies into that pummelling aggression, such as on ‘Dullboy’ and ‘A Machine For Pigs’. The latter in particular culminates in a brilliantly punk-tinged climax, riotous riffs crashing against fierce screamed vocals.

The EP is brought to an apocalyptic close with the cataclysmic breakdown at the back end of ‘The Bounds of Reason’, a visceral call-to-arms against a system that relies on oppression to function. With screeching dissonance in the guitars and some of the heaviest vocals across the entire project, Cainhurst bring the EP to an incendiary close.

‘A Ceremony’ is an EP that is simply brimming with promise. Cainhurst have laid their artistic cards on the table, and what is shown is exciting to behold. It’s easy to imagine some genuinely incredible music coming from this project; for now, however, this EP will more than suffice. 

RATING: 79/100 – Mostly Very Good

For Fans Of: Knocked Loose, Frail Body, Dreamwell, La Dispute, Massa Nera

Follow the band on social media below:

Instagram // Spotify // Twitter