Unapologetically brutal hardcore/metalcore band DYING WISH have finally cranked out enough material for their first full-length album "Fragments of a Bitter Memory", released at the beginning of last October. Drummer Jeff Yambra, guitarist Pedro Carrillo, and vocalist Emma Boster grew up together, sharing mutual interest in various "Warped Tour" bands in middle school, graduating to the hardcore scene as they got older, it wasn't until 2016 that Boster became more involved in the scene, wanting to start a band and contacting the only two people she felt comfortable playing music with. Yambra and Carrillo were already part of a NW metalcore band called FUNERALS but joined Boster in her endeavors. They emerged with a 5-track demo under the name TRUST ISSUES in September 2016. It wasn't until February of 2018 that they would officially change their name to DYING WISH. It would be a busy year for the band releasing both a 3-track EP and a split album with fellow metallic hardcore band SERRATION.

DYING WISH released several singles in the lead-up to the release of "Fragments of a Bitter Memory" but did not slow down, earning a nomination for Best International Band at the UK's Heavy Music Awards. The diverse group forged a musical and activist identity in the DIY scene. Even as they've graduated to bigger tours with more prominent metalcore bands, they continue to uphold those ethics, espousing the values of equality, justice, and self-determination. Produced, mixed, and mastered by Randy LeBoeuf who has done work for THE ACACIA STRAIN, KUBLAI KHAN, and SENTINALS, "Fragments of a Bitter Memory" is 11 songs of savage, pummeling assault against personal trauma and society at large. DYING WISH represents a part of a resurgence in postmodern noisecore, similar in sound to CODE ORANGE and KNOCKED LOOSE, whose frontman, Bryan Garris, appears on the revenge-laden track "Enemies in Red".

While the metalcore subgenre may have been coined over 20 years ago, there are several bands still carrying on the banner that are more or less sticking to the formula. DYING WISH are one of those bands but thoroughly intend to take it an even more heavily brutal direction. Boster's unique vocals are unlike that of fellow female metal vocalist Angela Gossow in that there is still a stronger bleeding through of femininity and feeling. Her singular voice opens the first track "Cowards Feed, Cowards Bleed", including the weighty breath before launching into pummeling screams followed by down-tuned and a seemingly crunchier than usual guitar tone from Reynold and Carrillo. It's savage and primal unlike other metal bands that play it safe with more clean vocals sprinkled in. Boster only lets up slightly during fourth track "Severing the Senses" and the title track, adding poignancy to a pair of songs about the intense exploration of growing up in an abusive home. As you can probably already tell, the lyrical content of "Fragments of a Bitter Memory" are quite intense and personal, making the delivery of them sound perfectly authentic, carrying so much emotional weight behind them. While most of the tracks are mainly rhythmically intense - equal parts complex and pummeling - and less focused on riffage, closer, "Drowning in the Silent Black" add some of the classic metalcore riffage in when it is only lightly touched on in parts of "Innate Thirst", "Hallowed By Affliction", and "Blood Laced Memory". It was honestly an eye-opener for me, and while it was brutal and intense, I was hoping for a bit more creative riffage to break up the intensity.