End the Suffering

Female singers are a rarity in hardcore-related music; they are a rarity in screamo/post-hardcore/melodic hardcore, and they are a rarity in metalcore. But rare doesn't mean nonexistent. In This Moment's Maria Brink, for example, really soared when they combined metalcore and screamo elements on their promising debut album, Beautiful Tragedy. And For the Suffering, a band from eastern New Mexico not far from the Texas border, have a female lead singer on this ferocious metalcore-oriented disc. Her name is Kierston Graham, and most of the time she favors ultra-abrasive screaming vocals that are every bit as vicious as what male metalcore vocalists have to offer. Graham occasionally gets in some clean vocals, and when that happens, she favors the type of darkly angelic vocal style that is quite common among female singers in goth metal and goth rock. It's quite a contrast — harsh, mercilessly abrasive screaming most of the time, and angelic vocals on occasion. However, this early-2009 release's heaven/hell contrast would have been much more effective if Graham had offered more clean vocals and fewer of the screaming vocals — in other words, more time for "the beauty" and less time for "the beast." Some will compare For the Suffering's metalcore to Beautiful Tragedy, which was a lot more metalcore-minded than In This Moment's second album, The Dream (an excellent yet much more mainstream-sounding and pop-minded release). But quite frankly, Beautiful Tragedy is considerably stronger than For the Suffering's album — which is wildly uneven and misses the mark most of the time. Nonetheless, there is some potential here. Graham's ability to scream so viciously when she wants and sound angelic when she wants is certainly a talent, and this band is at least worth keeping an eye on.