On October 13th, 2023, Beartooth, the popular metalcore band from Columbus, Ohio, released their fifth studio album, The Surface. Beartooth released the album through their label, Red Bull Records. The Surface, as a whole, captures all of Beartooth’s strengths in a perfect light—all eleven tracks on the album are completely and utterly perfect.
The Surface is teeming with life right from the intro. Elevating instrumentals radiate boundless happiness, while powerful breakdowns provide a shocking shock that firmly establishes your place in the present. The best example of this is perhaps What Are You Waiting For, a soaring, moshpit-bait call to arms that inspires listeners to overcome their hardships and grab the day.
To add to that, The Surface does, however, make an effort to strike a balance between exhilaration and realism in the midst of the positive affirmations. This album rejects false positivism, even though songs like Might Love Myself and Riptide bounce around and float in a mist of effervescence. The album still refuses to accept false positivity. Beartooth’s characteristic raw, grizzly hardcore and heavy sound bites back as a reality check. The song Sunshine! juxtaposes high-pitched acoustics with growling hate, and the raw, spine-tingling cry “Life’s not fair!” from What’s Killing You is unmistakably raw.
Overall, The Surface is an extremely solid album—a change in tone, but a welcome one. Shomo’s overcoming of his depression is expressed directly through the lyrics, inspiring the listeners to overcome their problems as well. The Surface is available to listen to on Spotify, Apple Music, and various other music streaming platforms.