REVIEW: Boundaries - Yearning: the unbeautiful after

It takes patience to crush rough coal into diamonds sharp enough to break skin - almost a year from entering the studio to record, metalcore heavyweights BOUNDARIES have transformed their rage and pain into their eviscerating album Yearning: the unbeautiful after, the first album released under their new record label Sumerian Records. Having already teased tracks on their festival slots, listeners have been given an insight into the raw energy fuelling this album, the rampaging instruments giving heft to the decimating lyrics.

Yearning: the unbeautiful after takes aim at the heavy music scene, the band inspired by the sense that, “As more time passes, heavy music continues to lose its teeth. This genre is supposed to be threatening; it should have an edge and make you feel something. We tried to create an album with urgency” [frontman Matthew McDougal]. Beyond this anger that sees them pushing the confines of metalcore, there’s a grief that seeps through following tragic losses within the music scene - rather than ignore it, BOUNDARIES embrace that grief and express it through their second released single Death will follow me, channelling the emotion borne from personal loss and the existential rage that life is violent and owes us nothing. With a core element of unforgiveness spiralling out to the turbulent emotions that spark from this, BOUNDARIES have reached a new pinnacle with this album.

A running cassette tape sound explodes into opening track Malconscience, its melody rising and falling for a palindrome effect and making it undisputable from the off that this is an album of towering aims that cannot be underestimated. Skies cast amber black was the first track release and glimpse into the heavy approach BOUNDARIES took to this album, McDougal’s guttural screams of the track title ringing out over Cory Emond and Cody Delvecchio’s prominent riffs, the track melding into May this pain never leave’s hooks and Tim Sullivan’s pulsating drums and insistent cymbal work, as he performs with bassist Nathan Calcagno and both add unique vocals to the crushing rhythms and lead vocals.

Torn wide open shifts gears from a muffled, slower intro to an absolute frenzied force of instrumentals that breaks momentarily for McDougal’s scream of “torn wide-fucking-open”, a look into the sentiment behind the song as well as a clear call for mosh pits at live shows, the track dropping to a haunting vocal piece from Alex Reade (MAKE THEM SUFFER) as a bass undercurrent turns into a pulsing laser synth before the close. Bitter ash, bitter love sees the entire band drop their pitches and McDougal reach down for a truly primal scream that comes from the pit of the stomach, the heavy feel of the track lightening slightly as it falls away into Unequal whole’s relentless guitar riffs and drum beats, brief guitar solos bringing a heavy metal aspect to the rhythm that takes no prisoners.

Death will follow me reaches for an unrelenting velocity just within its grasp, the contrasting vocals embodying the back-and-forth turmoil of unspent grief as it asks “what if I can’t move on?” and the terrifying uncertainty of being chained to that grief forever. Dropping straight into The leper’s bell, the band continue the exploration of existential dread over crispy beats, soaring riffs, and dual wielding of backing vocals from Calcagno and Sullivan that add gravitas to the track and ultimately the album in its entirety, before it fades into another muffled intro on Crowned and crucified and the sudden eruption of unflinching drumbeat, the track reaching a fever pitch on Landon Tewer’s (THE PLOT IN YOU) breakdown in a furor, before it drops into an old-timey soundbite of calming voices. Wasted angel is one of the shorter tracks and perfectly demonstrates the urgency the band were aiming for on this album as they wait for no one and race along like there’s no time in the world to get across their raw emotional. Evidence of extinction falls back from the urgency incrementally as the band launch an assault on their instruments and on the existential dread that pervades everything on the album, McDougal’s screams of “you have forgotten” layering to the point of being pure noise. 

Nothing, gathered focuses on the guitar hooks prevalent throughout the track as a main facet and in the background as a “pay attention to appreciate fully” moment, the vocals giving all the yearning of the album title as the trio of singers verbalise their hollow feelings and their wish for something more. Only endless is potentially their biggest single release drawing huge crowds to sing-along to a song that was in its infancy when they performed on the Dogtooth stage, the hardcore element in contrast to the clean backing vocals and soaring, choral vocal runs  as the instruments weave between paces and intensity, before we come to the finale in title track Yearning: the unbeautiful after, McDougal’s fear of having to prove their worth in the lyrics “what if this the closest that I ever get?” roaring across the pulverising beats and thunderous riffs as we gradually fade into the ether of nothing and everything.

Score: 8/10

Yearning: the unbeautiful after will be released on 17th July 2026 via Sumerian Records.

Words: Julia Stark

Photos: Sarah Holick