REVIEW: Electron - Is This Worth Living For?
ELECTRON are based in London but come all the way from Portugal to bring shiny new modern metal to the ever-evolving music scene. The band has a rare duo combination, Jason Payne (vocals, guitar) and Joanna Hyde (vocals, bass). They have brought their talents together to release their second full length album Is This Worth Living For? - 13 tracks of modern metal.
The first track up is Trap. It opens with spatial electronic synths and distant guitars, Jason coming in with his vocals, stretching to impressive heights and then slumbering down to whispering lows. The track is instantly reminiscent of modern metalcore bands like BRING ME THE HORIZON but Jason's unique vocal tone sets it apart. The last chorus is satisfying adding a new layer of synths to tie everything together. Lie To Me is next up opening with distorted guitars, their riffs dragging the whole mood through the mud with it. The deep bass and electronic beat followed by fry screams in the pre-chorus make for a coalition of madness on the ears. The breakdown comes in with a satisfying 'blegh' to accompany it, also making way for an almighty guitar solo. Modern metal seems to have moved away from such guitar solos, especially longer ones, but ELECTRON let the instrument sing for itself.
Dying To Feel Alive opens with ample piano before a KORN style beat comes in with a wobbling guitar and deep twangy bass. It switches up the momentum of the album, not slowing it but introducing something new. The song lacks a breakdown but in its place has a long outstretched bridge creating its own section of the song, it also once again houses another guitar solo. Next up is You Betray which has a similar beat to the last with an addictive deep bass. At this point the album feels quite formulaic with not much variance, a low spoken or whispered verse, a screaming pre-chorus and then a vocal chorus followed by a guitar solo down the line. All the tracks individually sound great but the lack of variation bores the ears after a while, especially keeping all these songs in a row.
Toxic starts with a faster paced beat and industrial drums, the vocals are low and distorted and the beat is addictive. The call out of “it’s so toxic” hits hard with the detrimental breakdown. The track once again follows the same formula with tweaked variations. The guitar solo screeches through the track before dropping into a lethargic half time beat to match the dragging lyrics. Echoes Of A Dying World is the 6th track in the album and once again follows a similar structure, however it is the best of the album yet. It’s chorus is particularly catchy with a slightly different structure but not straying too far from the path. The track has the most screams and vocal fry so far which is a particularly charming point, Jason's fry screams are incredibly satisfying and we’d love to hear him screaming more in the future.
TAKEN features Benji Webbe from the infamous metal fusion band SKINDRED. This track completely changes the pace of the album, switching up the sound with something new and exciting. The chorus is addictive and the track has certain SKINDRED sounding quirks that help fuse Benji's voice to the ELECTRON sound. They layer their own screams with Benji's iconic vocals as well as having their guitar solo along with the vocals which blends it with the song nicely rather than taking away from everything else to make the guitar shine. Insomnia and Tether are the next two tracks; musically they stand out from the rest of the album but next to each other they’re quite similar. These tracks are more vocally driven and lean into the more traditional metalcore sound, even combining elements of classic rock. These are the kinds of tracks you can see being deep cuts for fans in the future and receiving a lot of love at live shows.
The last full track on the album is Bleeding Heart which opens softly and slower than others, the track holds back on the screams in its first half to leave them all for the latter half. Halfway through the track slows and leaves space which is slowly filled by building drums, the breakdown is the most devastating, polarising the calmer half of the track. Multiple long screams really display the full vocal skills before leading the listener straight into the last guitar solo of the album.
The last three tracks are live versions of Burning Inside from their 2024 EP HOLLOW and two tracks from this album, Echoes Of A Dying World and You Betray. The tracks give a real taste of what you can hear at their live shows, very similar to the recorded tracks with an extra element of their gritty performance.
Is This Worth Living For? shows the band's identity and is a bunch of great tracks. However together, it lacks variation and it’s a great example of how much the track list can matter to the building of an album. Not all tracks followed similar formulas, yet all the tracks that did were grouped together, maybe the band would’ve benefited from revising this exact order of the album. ELECTRON have a few shows left to close out the year so keep an eye out for what they have to follow up this brand new album with!
Score: 7/10
Is This Worth Living For? will be released on 2nd October 2026.
Words: Amy Smyth
Photos: Rob Blackham
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