One of the biggest surprises of the year for me is the new Juliet Ruin EP entitled Regime. This is a band I have never heard of and so I had no idea what to expect. First off, they are a metal band from Alberta Canada and they are absolutely phenomenal. Julie Fleming, the vocalist, is great. Her clean singing is top tier and melodic, something that benefits this band extremely well, and her screaming and vocal control is next level.

Some of the standouts of this EP include the opening track, Reactance Theory, which starts out with a groovy riff leading into a killer bass line and drum arrangement. Jess's vocals on this are great as she sings about healing. "I'm trying to heal but it's perplexing lately" are lyrics that really hit home for me, and my own mental health struggles, especially lately. The second track on this EP, Chrysalis, is a much heavier song than the aforementioned first track. It begins with pummeling, chugging guitars and a heavy bass line which makes you wanna bang your head and get into the mosh pit. Her screams here are crystal clear, and you can tell the emotion in her voice. The breakdown in the end of this song leads into a partial guitar solo before Jess continues screaming at the listener in anger and frustration. Poems by a Poltergeist is the 3rd song on the album and easily my favorite. Jess's singing is on full display here as are her screams. It's really impressive to me how she can effortlessly flow between singing and screaming. She makes it look so easy. The love the guitar and bass tones layered beneath the vocals, with frenetic drumming and some snare drum echo as well. The vocals are instrumentation perfectly meld together in this song, and in the band in general. At the end of this song, near the breakdown, I love how her low pitched screams are super low, then she raises the pitch of her voice to create some great, memorable highs.

The Art of Being Wise starts with another groovy bass line followed by the sounds of drums and a china symbol. Honestly, you can feel the energy of this band emanating from the vocalist and every other member of this band, and this song is no different. This band reminds me of some old school early 2000s metalcore, some of the music I grew up with. The guitar solo in the end along with the intensity of the drum beats is just brilliant, and I enjoyed it immensely. Finally, Regime is such an intense song that even begins with a "BLEGH" from Jess, which is standard for a lot of modern metal music. I love the squealing guitars in the background and the emotion you can feel from Jess's voice; both sadness from the melodic, clean singing, and anger from the screams that penetrate your consciousness and assaults your senses in all the best ways.

Overall, this album is terrific. One of my favorite EPs of the year and I definitely think it would help seeing this band in a live setting.