Unsigned and Unholy: Frontierer, Jahai, Nonsense

Frontierer play a mash-up of old-school deathcore (the good kind) and spastic grind, sort of like if Ion Dissonance and The Red Chord had a pajama cuddle party with Dillinger Escape Plan and Psyopus. Their songs are appropriately short and intense. Stream The Collapse in full below… it’ll only take you ten minutes.

There was a time where Sweden could do no wrong and In Flames were one of the coolest bands in the world. Portland’s Jahai seek to reminisce about such a time but not without updating it for the new age. I’m really digging some of the riffing and Swedish-style harmonized melodeath leads in “Breaking into Splinters,” and there’s a bit of a classic metal feel to some of the melodies as well. And the guitar solos have Jesper Strömblad’s fingerprints all over them. Check out the live video:

Nonsense are from Lyon, France, but those syncopated rhythms and melodic structures are a deadringer for those of the Dutchmen in Textures, a full day’s drive due north. The vocals set them apart, though; vocalist Olivier Sicaud’s clean delivery reminds me most of The Safety Fire’s Sean McWeeney. I can’t get enough of this track.