CurrentsThe Way It Ends

Currents, everyone’s favourite death-infused metalcore band from Connecticut, are back in full force with their sophomore album The Way It Ends. 

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Spanning djent, metalcore and a tasteful, memorable touch of death metal, Currents have made a name for themselves by dropping compelling and irresistibly well-written releases one after the other without a single exception.

Opening track It Was Never There begins with a section that immediately reminds the listener of what makes Currents so damn good. Brian Wille’s woeful screams are instantly recognisable and it’s clear that the band have refined the best elements of their sound. 

Poverty of Self is one of the heaviest songs on the album. With a fitting single artwork depicting a guillotine and a music video showing that same guillotine swing from side-to-side, the song critiques everything about society as we know it. The repeating lyrics of the song convey this message clearly: “The broken suffer, brought to their knees. The guilty prosper, consumed by greed.”

Matching the heaviness, Monster escalates the energy to 10. With the most memorable riff of the whole album starting at 0:38 (reminiscent of Invent, Animate), Monster is one of Currents’ best overall songs as it displays every element of what makes them amazing: blast beat drum patterns, beautifully melancholic lead guitar lines, brooding clean sections and dominating chorus vocals.

This is Currents at their absolute best. Rage, longing, melancholy and fear all tie together—along with dynamic songwriting and outstanding production.

Closers How I Fall Apart and Better Days do well to round out what we have heard so far on The Way It Ends. With the song title leading out the chorus “Now I know that I’m all alone, and nobody will come to save me. This is how, how I fall apart, all alone with these nightmares in my head”, it certainly doesn’t feel like a happy ending. But that seems to be the point of the album, happy endings are few and far between, but that is oddly okay, it’s something we need to accept and look onwards to Better Days (…literally).

The final track on the album rewards those who listen through in one sitting, as it begins with an interesting call back to the introduction to It Was Never There. The riff beginning at 0:49 also seems like a subtle call back to Monster, making this a truly well-rounded closing track. Better Days stands out as a perfect track to show someone totally unacquainted with Currents, it does everything we’ve grown to love them for in barely four minutes. An absolutely soul-crushing and exceptionally-interesting three sections close out the song and the album, leaving the listener with an absolutely satisfying overall experience.

This is Currents at their absolute best. Rage, longing, melancholy and fear all tie together—along with dynamic songwriting and outstanding production—to make this album a magnificent experience.

STANDOUT TRACKS: A Flag To Wave, Better Days, Poverty of Self, Monster
STICK THIS NEXT TO: Make Them Suffer, Invent, Animate, Aviana