EP review: Gore. – If You Do Not Fear Me…

Gore. are coming for blood. This second dispatch sure seems like a threat, with its ominous ellipsis hanging about like a warnful, pregnant pause. If you do not fear me… well, you better. The Texan quartet are still warming up, but across just four tracks they’re laying down a strong introduction, and peacocking just how easily they can slither from lip-curling heavy instrumentals to serenely melodic verses.

Arriving just shy of a year on from 2024’s A Bud That Never Blooms, here they further play with tension and imagery. Wrath opens soft and slow, but as vocalist Haley Roughton eerily whispers its name, it cracks open like barren land revealing lava, with guitars driving a meltdown of wailing riffs.

It’s a structure that crops up often throughout, with the band able to nail down the bittersweet tender tones of, say, Evanescence, but then rocket themselves among the upper echelons of modern metal with brutal screams and breakdowns. Sepsis is a standout for this reason, which brings in themes of religion and the hamster wheel of trying to be good enough, while Orbiting and Like You Meant It flip the script with instrumentally lighter choruses and brutal breakdowns built like pillars around them.

If You Do Not Fear Me… offers a view into vulnerability and jadedness from both behind the shield of rage, and with it stripped away. It documents our flawed human emotions and experiences, and feels like a stepping stone to a destination much more expansive. Though an intriguing and engaging offering nonetheless, we’re eager for something more, and it certainly feels like this band has much more up their sleeve. We’ll be ready to sink our teeth into a full-length in all its Gore-y glory when the moment feels right, as this is a band on a promising path.

Verdict: 3/5

For fans of: Employed To Serve, Lake Malice, I See Stars

If You Do Not Fear Me… is released on October 03 via Spinefarm