www.myspace.com/forthesuffering
Female singers are a rarity in hardcore-related music; they are a
rarity in screamo/post-hardcore/melodic hardcore, and they are a rarity
in metalcore. But rare doesn't mean nonexistent.
In This Moment's
Maria Brink, for example, really soared when they combined metalcore and screamo elements on their promising debut album,
Beautiful Tragedy.
And For the Suffering, a band from eastern New Mexico not far from the
Texas border, have a female lead singer on this ferocious
metalcore-oriented disc. Her name is
Kierston Graham,
and most of the time she favors ultra-abrasive screaming vocals that
are every bit as vicious as what male metalcore vocalists have to
offer.
Grahamoccasionally gets in some clean vocals, and when that happens, she
favors the type of darkly angelic vocal style that is quite common
among female singers in goth metal and goth rock. It's quite a contrast
-- harsh, mercilessly abrasive screaming most of the time, and angelic
vocals on occasion. However, this early-2009 release's heaven/hell
contrast would have been much more effective if
Grahamhad offered more clean vocals and fewer of the screaming vocals -- in
other words, more time for "the beauty" and less time for "the beast."
Some will compare For the Suffering's metalcore to
Beautiful Tragedy, which was a lot more metalcore-minded than
In This Moment's second album,
The Dream (an excellent yet much more mainstream-sounding and pop-minded release). But quite frankly,
Beautiful Tragedyis considerably stronger than For the Suffering's album -- which is
wildly uneven and misses the mark most of the time. Nonetheless, there
is some potential here.
Graham's
ability to scream so viciously when she wants and sound angelic when
she wants is certainly a talent, and this band is at least worth
keeping an eye on.
ALL MUSIC.com
by Alex Henderson