Artist: Glass Casket
Single: Let Them Go
Album: TBA
Label: Silent Pendulum Records
Release Date: March 17, 2023
Location: North Carolina
Once upon a time, Dusty and Blake both departed Glass Casket to join BTBAM, and while we were lucky as fans to have this legendary band grow to prominence as a result, it was indeed a bittersweet moment knowing Glass Casket would be sidelined indefinitely. Glass Casket’s debut album, 2004’s We Are Gathered Here Today, was a slightly immature record by a band still coalescing it’s identity, but it remained enjoyable on the strength of the riffs, the performances, and the overall heaviness which owed considerably to it’s HEAVY bass tone. 2006 saw the release of their second album, Desperate Man’s Diary which was an absolute blast through and through. The band had solidified their identity while retaining the killer riffs in spades, and I believe this album created most of their fanbase, because bluntly, it’s fantastic. The balance shifted slightly away from “core” and closer to “death” musically and the playing was still killer, especially the lead guitar. Moments of ethereal ambiance gave way to brutality and blast beats in a really satisfying way. And pinch harmonics. My god, there are pinch harmonics everywhere, almost sarcastic amounts of pinch harmonics here. And I love it.
Fast forward to March 25, 2023. People don’t talk about deathcore in a voice louder than a whisper, but there I am in my car listening to Desperate Man’s Diary with an old friend. We are reminiscing about the idea of a Glass Casket drinking game – a drink for every pinch harmonic (total suicide, don’t even think about taking that seriously). We remark on how heavy the album is, we revel in the solo after the build-up in The Redeemer, and how hard that first bend hits, soaring over the dreary chords beneath. Shortly after, the album ends, and I open Spotify to find something else to dig into. But wait…a new Glass Casket single? Surely this is a mistake – like the time I thought there were Tesseract songs I had never heard, but it turned out to be some weirdo electronic band who shared the same name. It’s true though, new Glass Casket material was released into the world on March 17 and I feel shame wash over me as I realize I was late to the party. I hit play on this new track, Let Them Go and I get nervous. What if it sucks? What if this band that I have loved for so long are phoning it in, longing for nostalgia as much as I have been all these years. What if…there aren’t enough squealies?!
Let Them Go is a killer single. Off the bat, vocalist Adam Cody has not lost his touch one bit and sounds every bit the savage he was on the previous releases. It’s not even 15 seconds in before the pinch harmonics show up. This riff rips. I am on cloud nine: classic Glass Casket with a more updated and clean production sound from who I have to assume is longtime BTBAM collaborator Jamie King. Things switch up as we change key and go into a brief pedal tone riff with some evil harmonies before a bit of a build up featuring Richardson playing one of the coolest polyrhythms in recent memory on the ride bell. I mean, seriously, I dont have the limb coordination to even pretend to air-drum along to this part. Familiar motifs return before Mr. Hauch makes his presence known. The tone and vibrato are instantly recognizable with Hauch playing fusing Friedman-esque phrases with a wildness reminiscent of Dimebag. The chord progression under the solo is surprisingly uplifting while managing to retain a foreboding sense of tension. We return again to the main motif before an abrupt end to the track.
It’s 2:44 of new Glass Casket and it sounds great. The return of the band now after some rumored lineup changes and cryptic hints in years prior is truly exciting. I couldn’t be more eager for this release or to see these guys on tour, hopefully sooner rather than later.
Listen to the single and pre-order the album:
Bandcamp
