Review
Thumbscrew
Within Hearts of Redemption

Imagine It (2006) — Sean L.

Thumbscrew – Within Hearts of Redemption cover artwork
Thumbscrew – Within Hearts of Redemption — Imagine It, 2006

There are a million and one spazz/metalcore bands around nowadays. And I can't name any of them besides Ed Gein, whose first record was what initially turned me off from the whole style. The bands that play this style of music are obviously apt at their instruments, but the focus is more on showing five seconds worth of technical prowess followed by incoherently distorted garbage. Don't get me wrong, I like noise and grind but the conglomeration of them doesn't come off as one part James Plotkin, one part Barney Greenway, it sounds like Daughters and Norma Jean. Unfortunately, Thumbscrew is really no different.

And, to add insult to injury, the anagram - "W.H.O.R.E." - of their record, Within Hearts of Redemption EP, is insipidly juvenile as well, and the lyrics follow suit. I got it, there's some girl you think is slutty. She's the embodiment of everything you hate and she's self-destructive. This unmasked misogyny is unnerving and bothersome. Why in the world would you bother to document such ass-backwards ideas? Hopefully every kid wearing a white belt and girls' jeans will have better sense than to endorse this.

3.0 / 10 — Sean L. • October 17, 2006

Thumbscrew – Within Hearts of Redemption cover artwork
Thumbscrew – Within Hearts of Redemption — Imagine It, 2006

Related news

Imagine It Signs Thumbscrew

Posted in Labels on March 1, 2006

Recently-posted album reviews

Contention

Nuclear Summer
Daze (2026)

Contention, I would argue, has spent the last few years at or near the top of the heap of the return to 90's styled Straight Edge Metalcore. I am being specific because there is no mistaking Contention's influences nor their message. This is a STRAIGHT EDGE band that is far more indebted to Morning Again that anything that uses a … Read more

A Secret Revealed

The Ruin I Summoned Forth
Lifeforce (2026)

There are albums that use heaviness as an assault and others that use it to create an atmosphere. On The Ruin I Summoned Forth, A Secret Revealed manage to does both. The German quintet’s fourth full-length is an enormous, bleak piece of post-metal, but calling it post-metal only gets you part of the way there. Black metal cuts through its … Read more

Time Spent Driving

Lost Leaves
Thirty Something Records (2026)

There's a particular challenge facing bands that came out of the late '90s and early '00s emo scene. You can recreate the sound people remember and risk becoming your own nostalgia act, or you can abandon it entirely and risk losing whatever made the band matter in the first place. Time Spent Driving choose neither on Lost Leaves. More than … Read more