Album Review: Nicolas Cage Fighter – The Bones That Grew from Pain (Metal Blade Records/Blacklight Media Records)

Australia’s Nicolas Cage Fighter combine ruthless hardcore with late 90s metal and death metal influences. They most recently made a mark with the 2021 EP Cast You Out, demonstrating what they were capable of, and now they return with The Bones That Grew from Pain. Due to be released on July 22nd, 2022 via Metal Blade Records and Blacklight Media Records.

With an explosion of fire and ferocity, Nicolas Cage Fighter come out swinging with the opening beastly pairing of death-infused hardcore that is Grey Eye and Shrine of Wire. Mayhem is the name of the game and it’s bloody infectious. Stompy groove, savage vocals, scathing riffing and so much more, this is aggressive sounding music.

The blood will be well and truly pumping already but Coughing Nails risks giving heart palpitations and Static Abyss is the kind of neck-breaking heaviness that appeals to all fans of metal music. In a handful of tracks, Nicolas Cage Fighter have already delivered one of the most vicious releases of 2022.

There’s still so much more to come though. The title track starts of ominously but unsurprisingly erupts into chaotic noise. The best kind too. The kind that makes you want to hulk up, get your gurn on and jump into the pit. It’s going to be painful but so very satisfying. Then there is Weeping Sores, a track all about brash brutality. Compound and Fracture, where hardcore wrath has the length to go along with it. Foundation, seeing Nicolas Cage Fighter drop the speed slightly but not the ruthlessness, as close to deathcore as it gets on this album. Before the penultimate track, Heretic’s Vow sees Nicolas Cage Fighter somehow reach even harsher levels of noise.

Does all this savagery, consistent and constant, numb the mind? A little bit but Nicolas Cage Fighter are so good at crafting a style that is shockingly addictive that it doesn’t really matter. Even the finale of A Great Ruinous Deed, as ferocious as everything heard so far, and then some, still hits bloody hard.

It’s the sign of a class band that they can release an album that is pure brutality from the moment it starts to the very end, with no let-up along the way, and it still be this listenable and addictive.

Nicolas Cage Fighter – The Bones That Grew from Pain Full Track Listing:

1. Grey Eye
2. Shrine of Wire
3. Coughing Nails
4. Static Abyss
5. The Bones That Grew from Pain
6. Weeping Sores
7. Compound and Fracture
8. Foundation
9. Heretic’s Vow
10. A Great Ruinous Deed

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