All Shall Perish

Oakland's All Shall Perish are the metal equivalent of a buffet: they're great when you're in the mood to try a lot of different things at once. And when you're listening to All Shall Perish, it's a very good buffet. The band's newest album, This is Where it Ends, has it all: super-fast technical work, constantly changing tempos and riffs, good old-fashioned California breakdowns, demonic vocals and death growls galore. There's also the kind of loveable angst that can only flourish in the world of deathcore. Death (metal) and youth (core) are fused into one, and the result is amazing lyrics such as "I hope to see you fucking die" ("My Retaliation") or "You fucking disgust me" ("In This Life of Pain"). One of the great things about This is Where it Ends is that it's obviously a labour of love, created with enthusiasm for the genre while trying new things, which are reminiscent of very (very) early Metallica. When a band can throw virtuoso guitar work into every song, sing about the doom that awaits us all and deliver avalanches of unholy breakdowns with the kind of energy that All Shall Perish display, you know you're in good hands.