REVIEW: Polyphia - Be Not Afraid
While music fans debate genres and which bands fit the boxes, POLYPHIA pay no mind to anyone else's rules as they push the experimental boundaries further on new album Be Not Afraid. The Texas band take contrariness and stylise it into eclectic rhythms and mind-scrambling samples, combining futuristic metal with hip-hop bites, without a single organic word uttered by the band themselves to take away from the sonical exploration.
Be Not Afraid on paper shouldn't work as well as it does - the juxtaposing genres and jarring beats would clash in less daring hands, but for fans in the know this is where POLYPHIA thrive in the spaces others fear to tread, keeping a steady balance between meticulous attention to detail in their mixing and obvious enjoyment and freedom in how they play. There’s a story told within the album of good and evil tearing each other apart on the more dramatic breakdowns and thundering riffs, but also existing together in reluctance, both fighting to be heard as the tracks build into cinematic crescendos but leaving a space.
POLYPHIA stands out as a band unafraid to tackle any sample, hook, and blended rhythm, creating entire stories and messages through careful instrumental work and handpicked sound bites. It’s admittedly difficult to try and hear the story when there aren’t specific lyrics from the band detailing their own personal journeys or making up something as a metaphor, and if you’re new to POLYPHIA it may take a few tracks or even a second album run to begin hearing the story beyond the organised chaos. The moment you scratch past the top layer and uncover more of the cinematic intensity to it, the better you can appreciate Be Not Afraid for being as unapologetic as it is and how deep the band have travelled to achieve this sound.
From the off, Let There Be Light is an explosive introduction to this battle of forces, futuristic prog-rock and metal infusions waxing and waning in volume before an impressive beat rips through, while With Eyes To See has an entirely different but no less impactful beginning that melds heavy metal guitar hooks with RnB vocals, the story beginning to take form on the breakdown. Blending straight into Screwtape, here’s where the unseen characters come out of the substantial rhythms into an electrifying beat and relentless guitar riff for something borderline chaotic and dangerous, before Power In The Blood powers through with a mix of driving notes and galvanising monologues, gentle harp-like notes very similar to PVRIS’ Hallucinations notes playing under the vocals before rising again to dramatic levels.
They Know Not What They Do plays off different genres and cultural styles before descending into an EDM track, keeping up the expectation that we shouldn’t know what to expect with this album, taking on a ‘ye olde’ quest feel as the story continues onward into Mark Of The Beast and its initial unnerving feel that weaves between smug triumph and threatening aura - where the other tracks blend themes of good and evil together and don’t stand out for one side specifically, this song is the closest to outright saying “this is a song for the bad guys” (the bad guys always get the best soundtracks though, let’s not pretend they don’t). While subtlety can’t be used to describe Be Not Afraid in any case, Can You Feel It really moves away from any semblance of the word with thumping club beats and a resounding voice crying out “can you feel it?” over the braided instrumentals, getting loud and impossible to ignore. Near Death is one of the shortest yet sharpest tracks on the album as the battle begins to reach its peak and juddering beats and impossibly rapid strings akin to DRAGONFORCE crash into each other.
J Bomb feels like we’ve witnessed the fall of good and are now seeing them picking themselves back up, refusing to give up as emotionally stirring riffs push them forward to the endless battle with trap beats adding spice to the tracks, before Deny The Flesh storms in with a tasty bass and rhythms that wouldn’t be out of place in a cinematic videogame from the 90s as you fight your way to the Big Bad, prepared to stand your ground no matter what you have to face. Devil Get Behind Me’s cathedral bell opener feels like an “oh shit, here we go” moment as everything collides together in a showdown of cosmic synth and guitar notes, pulverising drums and an otherworldly voice rumbling on the outro. We come to the conclusion of the final battle on closer Fear God, its tone initially victorious until something more creeps in with the crashing notes that feels the exhaustion of winning but knowing the cycle of good vs evil never truly stops - the battle will begin again.
Score: 8/10
Be Not Afraid was released on 23rd October 2026 via Rise Records.
Words: Julia Stark
Photos: Anna Lee
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