Album Review: New World Disorder by Tonight We Stand (This Is Core)

Italian melodic metallers, Tonight We Stand, are all set to release their debut album, New World Disorder, on March 13th. Released via This is Core, New World Disorder was mixed by Lucas D’Angelo (Betraying The Martyrs) in France. It was mastered by Ermin Hamidovic at Systematic Productions Studios in Australia.

Speaking about New World Disorder, Tonight We Stand says: “‘New World Disorder’ is our debut album, the best solution to find our space into the worldwide metal scene, but we also want to tell our personal vision of the society and the human weakness: depression, anger, sorrow, addiction, obedience, money… By listening to this album, we will take the listener into a labyrinth made of sounds and words where, at the end of it, the listener will understand the consequences of what those weaknesses would entail, invisible ones but still destructive for who’s infected and for the overall environment“.

Tonight We Stand is a 5-piece metal act from Venice, Italy. Each member of the band has different music influences, ranging from Avenged Sevenfold to Trivium, All That Remains to Atreyu. These tastes help to create a unique form of metalcore music combining melody driven guitar attacks, sing-a-long epic melodies and catchy choruses, all blended with old school metalcore power.

Tonight We stand are Alessandro “Alex” Murello on drums and lead clean vocals with Simone Rossi on lead harsh vocals. Simone Donè is on the bass and Riccardo “Rick” Moretto and Filippo “Phil” Danieli are on guitars.

New World Disorder is 12 tracks of exciting metal tracks that refuse to be labelled as a specific genre. It’s a fresh and exhilarating listen right from the off with the intriguing mellow undertones of the intro, Damnation. A horror styled chime grows into a symphonic line which itself grows into an industrial sounding beat. It gives you a little insight into what is to follow. A wide mix, but pieced together carefully and cleverly. Some bands throw everything but the kitchen sink at an album and it can leave nothing more than an incohesive mess. Not Tonight We Stand though. They appear to have thrown everything, including the kitchen sink at New World Disorder and managed to make it cohesive, clever and inspiring.

The first song, proper, on the album is Phobia and it is a fine example of this multi genre sound. Traditional sounding solos mix with core riffing. Furious growled verses are brilliantly backed by a symphonic track. The choruses are cleanly sung and catchy. I love the harsh and clean vocal harmonising and, as it builds into a crescendo of raw screaming near the end, you can feel the hairs on your arms standing on end. End of the Road is another banger. I love the pace of the verses and the higher hardcore like rasping vocals used. The chorus sees the cleans take control but still backed by those sandpaper vocals to create a cool harmony that makes me think of Soilwork.

Other songs mix things up differently, like Hollowgrams.  We get a bassy start before high pitched melody takes over. This track has a dark undercurrent to it before suddenly chucking a bit of rap (courtesy of Lavinia Viscuso) into the verses. It works well as a foil for the heaviness that follows. The Shattered God hits harder with a speedy melodeath number with a cracking chorus. Ending track, IWRYFA really plays around with some amazing musicianship on show. The guitar work is excellent throughout the whole album to be fair.

Gates of Hell is a cracker. It starts with a gentle melody that leads into a dreamy solo. You might think you are getting a ballad. You aren’t. The drums start creeping up on you dragging the song back from gentle into a slab of metalcore beats and riffs. The vocals are spat out at pace with a switch to depressive cleans in the chorus. The guitar solos are amazing and I love the lead melody gloriously mixed with harsh vocals near the end. Brilliant.

Martyrs chucks a ton of groove into the mix dropping the melody back in for a top quality chorus. The bass shakes your skin loose in wave after wave of heaviness before the song fades gently. It switches to piano melody and choir like backing singing before symphonic backing joins and suddenly it rips into the longest solo on the record. This songs ending minutes is the most intense instrumental section. It’s brilliant and powerful.

Then away from the really, really good songs, there are also the brilliant, absolutely phenomenal tracks. One such track is Darkest Times. This is a special song. The old school riff intro leads into an extended roar in a track that starts very much in the melodeath camp. The drums and bass lay down a staggeringly heavy foundation in an intro that you just have to head bang to. There is still a slight symphonic edge in the background of the verse too but wait for that transition into the chorus. That’s some clever stuff right there. More neck breaking rhythm comes in a rough breakdown of chugging guitars before the addition of a twinkling piano melody lifts your soul back up and a screaming lead guitar drags us unwillingly towards the end. Wow.

Another is the title track, New World Disorder. It has a punishing death core start and a surprising, in a good way, switch to cleaner chorus with layers of melody and female vocals. The chorus vocals shine like a bright light surrounded by enclosing darkness. The solo is one of the best of a fine bunch on the album as is the metal mixed with piano at the end. The way it drops and then explodes back in with a screaming guitar is phenomenal. Sick Rose is also jaw droppingly good. It’s a really heavy song and really full sounding. There are so many layers involved and so much emotion in the music and vocals. It creates a wall of sound that hits you repeatedly while the drums echo through your bones leaving you breathless and a little awestruck.

Another favourite is Fire Walks With Me. What an amazing track this is. Yes, it does reference Twin Peaks as well, though in the band’s unique way. It is probably my favourite track on an album full of amazing quality. The lead guitar work is perfect, the heavier sections show of some serious bass and drum skill and I love how the pace keeps switching. I could listen to this song for the rest of the day and would still feel like I am peeling away the layers.

Make no mistake about it, Tonight We Stand have pieced together a phenomenal slab of heavy metal. New World Disorder is exciting, creative, clever, expansive, interesting and so much more. Mostly though it is just so damn good to listen to. It never feels cluttered, never stops for a filler track or a bit of a breather. It just hits you with moments of genius over, and over, again. And this is a debut? I can’t wait to see what they come up with next!

New World Disorder will be available on all streaming platforms on the 13th of March. You would be a fool not to get on this at the earliest possible opportunity.

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