REVIEW: AXTY - The Pain Made Me Who I Am
- Lysandre Pons
- 20 hours ago
- 4 min read
Pain can break you, shape you or become the raw material for something stronger. On The Pain Made Me Who I Am, Brazilian metalcore/deathcore force AXTY chooses the latter. Across 12 tracks, the band turns adversity, self-doubt, anger and resilience into an album that feels like controlled chaos. After steadily carving out a place for themselves over the last few years, AXTY releases their new opus through Napalm Records on August 21st.
The band's own description of the album is perhaps the best place to start. AXTY explores how difficult emotions, adversity and pain can become foundations for growth and self-discovery. What makes this work is that the music never delivers that message in a neat or comfortable package. Instead, it is chaotic, abrasive, melodic and occasionally downright unhinged, full of highs and lows where you never quite know what is coming next. In that sense, the album becomes a fitting representation of life itself.
From the first note, pain made me delivers exactly what its title promises. Dense, down-tuned guitar chugs collide with hip-hop samples, electronic touches and gritty production to create a heavy, industrial atmosphere with a futuristic edge. The vocals often sit behind the instrumentation, emphasising how important every element is to the track's cohesion. It is an unusual opening, but one that works.
who I am comes out swinging and immediately establishes the album's identity. Early 2000s nu-metal influences add nostalgia to the aggression, while clean vocals and screams are carefully balanced against stop start structures and progressive touches. Then, just when everything seems serious, the unexpected The Office “God, no, please no” meme sample appears before an absolutely savage breakdown. Somehow, AXTY makes it work. Polyrhythmic deathcore passages collide with soaring metalcore melodies, while the drums occasionally resemble bursts of machine-gun fire. More than anything, the track feels like the band defining itself in real time.
That willingness to mix seemingly incompatible ideas becomes one of the album's defining characteristics. dismay follows with an immediately catchy chorus, offering accessibility without becoming predictable, before selfish tears everything apart again. Manic guitars, sudden pauses, and thunderous drumming give the song an unstable momentum, while vicious screams push it into blackened deathcore territory. It is a perfect example of AXTY's controlled chaos approach. That balance between brutality and restraint becomes even clearer on everything is beautiful. After so much dense instrumentation, its unexpected acapella ending is striking. Everything disappears, leaving the vocals exposed and revealing just how much raw power Felipe Hervoso possesses.
all I love turns that vocal versatility into one of the album's most entertainingly violent moments. The opening “Wait a minute” meme immediately signals that the band doesn't take itself too seriously, but underneath the humour is one of the record's strongest songs. Clean vocals create a memorable chorus before blistering drums with relentless double bass, erratic guitars and hypnotic rhythms explode into a wall of metallic violence. Even the additional sound effects somehow fit while some of the deepest screams on the album leave you needing a moment to process them.
That ability to make brutality feel fun continues with closer. Hip hop and rap influences give the song a LIMP BIZKIT flavour, while its strained chorus brings an unexpected vulnerability. The final scream turns into an impressive vocal endurance test making us want to pull out our stopwatches. fragile and break continue the movement between melody and heaviness. On Break, sludge elements and dissonant guitars create a murky, uncomfortable atmosphere, making the instrumentation feel almost physically close. It adds another texture without disrupting the album's momentum. nothing but pain is another highlight. Rather than simply hitting at full force, the track builds tension like a band preparing a crowd for a mosh pit. Soaring vocals and heartbeat like drums keep the anticipation growing before everything slows down for the breakdown. When it finally lands, the impact feels even bigger.
with me takes a more measured approach before gradually becoming increasingly sluggish and dragging, almost as if the music itself is struggling to keep moving. Everything culminates in end this, an appropriately bleak conclusion. AXTY has described it as one of the album's most pessimistic moments, centred around accumulated trauma, depression and intrusive, self-destructive thoughts. Alternative and nu-metal influences creep into the track, while its dissonant chorus creates an exhausted, dissociative atmosphere. The recurring “please end this” reinforces the sense of finality, while the opening line “so here we go again, another song about how I hate myself” acknowledges the cyclical nature of these thoughts. By its drifting, delirious conclusion, the album's central idea comes full circle. Pain has shaped the album but that does not necessarily mean it is being defeated by it.
That is what makes The Pain Made Me Who I Am more compelling than any other heavy metalcore album. AXTY is not interested in making brutality their only selling point. Beneath the firestorm are pop melodies, infectious grooves, unexpected humour, vulnerable clean vocals and an impressive understanding of how to make an extreme song memorable. They may be one of those bands whose logo requires considerable dedication to decipher, but the music itself is surprisingly easy to connect with. Pain may have made AXTY who they are but on this album, they prove that they are still deciding what they want to become.
Score: 9/10
The Pain Made Me Who I Am will be released on 21st August 2026 via Napalm Records.
Words: Lysandre Pons
Photos: Debora Camargo
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