Why should you give „Collapsing” a chance? In June Dead By April continued to work with their a bit more than 1 year old formation on the swedish and on international metalcore community’s stage. This means that their fourth single Collapsing came out, in which Christopher Kristensen takes the missing place of the growler. It can be said that Christopher didn’t have an easy job because he had to fill the void left by Jimmie Strimell who counted as an icon in the band’s carrier. Also we have to mention that letting go of Jimmie was a necessary step due to his heavy drinking and drug problems. The band made a logical choice regarding the change. This wasn’t an unfamiliar situation because the band already lived through this in another scenario in 2013.
Between 2013 and 2017 they released songs somewhat showed that Dead by April can continue to produce quality singles and albums without Jimmie. Of course some people’s absence can be felt, but this doesn’t have to be a bad thing. It’s good to see that in these situations a band can move forward to reach the success they dreamt of. After the first change in the band’s life we can easily think that the second change won’t be worse and can’t affect the quality. But maybe it’s wise to think about that what if it does?
Following the second „break up” of Jimmie and Dead by April, they released 4 single in a relatively short time. Memory and Heartbeat were quite good, they tried to maintain the way that were imagined in the beginning. We can say the same about Bulletproof but the concept wasn’t really working out. The lyrics were creative and they tried to make something new but the magic fell behind. Memory is interesting in a way that it got an acoustic version which isn’t suprising considering that in their World Collide album they adapted their songs in more verions. One thing is for sure, the gothenburg band is still pretty strong in making their songs’ acoustic versions. Although there is a significant difference in the scream parts on the albums, both Jimmie Strimmel’s and Christoffer Andersson’s voices (Let the World Know & Worlds Collide) are unique but as I mentioned quite different. It’s subjective how we see this but I personally think that Jimmie’s and Christoffer’s screams fitted the band better than Christopher’s. On the other hands those parts supported by the synthesizer aren’t really working in the new singles like Bulletproof and Heartbeat Failing so they fail to be outstanding. By any means they are not bad but they seem to be inconsistent.
Collapsing is a rather simply built song, following the traditional metalcore lyrics structure. Apart from the chorus, verses and bridge they only added a small intro. The intro and a bridge can be easily separated from the rest of the song because a female vocal helps us to get in mood of Collapsing’s atmosphere. In the verses mostly Christopher’s dirty vocal gets the spotlight, but the first third features Pontus’ clean vocals. This shared singing also takes place in the last chorus and gives and ideal finish for Collapsing. The chorus is more or less made out of the clean vocal so the clear lines get more attention (but it isn’t an unbalanced but more of a scaled highlighting). To sum up the chorus reached it’s purpose and gets our attention. It may seem to not be that big of a deal but in many occasion’s (not just with DBA) the chorus simply doesn’t work that well. Collapsing’s best part is the guitarplay which lead the verses and the bridge with better and better riffs also it gives a more energetic feels to them. Marcus Rosell’s drumplay follows closely to the guitar regarding the quality, they really nailed it with the instrumental parts in this song.
Why should you give a chance to Collapsing? Firstly this is one of the best works of the band considering rythm, also it brings the band’s typical style. Secondly it’s a simple yet nostalgic metalcore single which becomes more unique with its intro and bridge. Collapsing’s atmosphere fits with the last couple of month’s mood, so many people can vibe with it. Just for this I would recommend listening to this track and sink in its lines.
Genre: Metalcore
Band: Dead by April (SWE)
Song: Collapsing
Album: Single (2021)
Lyrics:
“It’s everlasting and I can never win”
How can I explain
The unexplainable
I’m screaming out loud
My words are inaudible
Something is clearly wrong in my system
It feels like a big cataclysm
I stare at my own re-reflec-flection
But you cannot see this infection
It’s all collapsing
Feels like an endless downward spiral
It’s all collapsing
Consuming me from the inside out
It’s everlasting
It’s everlasting
I can never win
It’s all collapsing now
Feeling worthless
Can’t find my purpose
Can’t see no future
There’s only fire
It must be my broken DNA-code
Because this brain is about to implode
It’s easy to become suicidal
When living is nothing but brutal
It’s all collapsing
Feels like an endless downward spiral
It’s all collapsing
Consuming me from the inside out
It’s everlasting
It’s everlasting
I can never win
It’s all collapsing now
“I stare at my own reflection
I know it’s invisible to you
But this is real
This infection”
It’s all collapsing
Feels like an endless downward spiral (downward spiral)
It’s all collapsing
Consuming me from the inside out (from the inside out)
It’s everlasting
It’s everlasting
I can never win
It’s all collapsing now
What should you know about Dead by April? DBA is a swedish (gothenburg) metalcore band. It was founded by Pontus Hjelm and Jimmie Strimell in 2007, but due to personal reasons Jimmie left the band multiple times and is not a part of the band nowadays. Since their debut they released 4 albums (Dead by April – 2009; Incomparable – 2011; Let The World Know – 2014; Worlds Collide – 2017) 1 mini-album (Stronger – 2011) and numerous singles. Their new single Collapsing was released on the 18th June worldwide. The band consists of Pontus Hjelm singer-guitarist, Marcus Wesslén bassist, Marcus Rosell drummer and Christopher Kristensen growler.
by: Wienay & Shadow
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