Metallic Philadelphia

Oren Goldberg ’25

On April 14, Philadelphia’s own, hardcore mainstay Jesus Piece’s much anticipated sophomore album, …So Unknown, was released on Century Media Records, co-produced and mixed by Randy Leboeuf of The Acacia Strain fame. While at the time of writing, the full album has yet to have been released, the band has released four singles from the upcoming LP over the past four months.

The first single, released in December of 2022, titled “An Offering to the Night” provides a solid mix of old and new. The track wears its nineties influences on its sleeve. Teeming with riffs that wouldn’t sound out of place amongst hardcore legends of yesteryear (Earth Crisis, Strife, Indecision, Madball, etc.), but with a bigger, louder, and deeper production that elevates the track to the modern-era. I found the aforementioned production to be intriguing, if not overdone at times. While I welcome clean and concise tracks, there is definitely a line where the soul starts to get sucked out of a song. Although, that is not a huge problem here. This track isn’t inventing anything new, but it doesn’t need to do that. It’s a solid single that does its job of getting the listener excited for what comes next. Think of it as a great leadoff hitter; it gets on base quickly and sets up the potential for something that will get the crowd excited and ready for more.

Next, in January of this year, came single number two, titled “Gates of Horn.” The track keeps steady with the big, loud, bassy production, but with much more of the death metal influenced riffs that were present in the band’s previous release, 2018’s Only Self. This track opens up with a much more mathcore-esque segment, teaming with chopped up time signatures and high-pitched discordant riffs with the timbre of a fire alarm a-la Converge, Botch, or early Dillinger Escape Plan. “Gates of Horn” is a much catchier, more intriguing offering than the track mentioned above. This time, the production aids in the heaviness, with the booming bass enhancing the aggression of the slower segments. “Gates of Horn” is a fantastic second offering.

Third, comes “Tunnel Vision.” Released the day after the Super Bowl, it’s appropriately angry for a group of Philadelphians. The track is the most conventionally “hardcore” of the bunch but that’s not a blight. In fact, it allows the talents of the entire band, but specifically the vocal talents of Aaron Heard aided further by the mixing and production. I found this to be equal parts catchy, moshable, and musically intriguing; the perfect package. I don’t have a baseball metaphor for this, but “Tunnel Vision” is the best track of the bunch.

Now for the closer, the fourth and final single, released last month, entitled “Silver Lining.” Again, the track falls within convention, but doesn’t quite hit the mark this time. It’s not bad but something’s missing. The killer is the production.

I have been praising it throughout, but this time the track’s reliance on quantizing everything, but the over-mastering of the track as a whole makes “Silver Lining” lack character and sound incredibly generic. Furthermore, it lacks a lot of the catchyness that the other tracks have. It blends in too much and doesn’t stand out as a single. “Silver Lining” wants to be a cleanup hitter, but in reality would be better suited to hit sixth or seventh.

All in all, So Unknown is shaping up to be one of the better releases of the year as Jesus Piece themselves are seeming to live up to the hype that is surrounding their new album, continuing to build upon the success they’ve had over the past half-decade, and further cementing themselves as living legends amongst the hardcore world, all the while putting the Philly scene on the map.