Review: Candy ‘It’s Inside You’
Candy hail from Richmond, Virginia – Its Inside You marks their second release on Relapse Records, following on from their excellent Heaven Is Here release in 2022. Their speciality lies in fusing together an incendiary blend of industrial metal, noise, grind, digital hardcore and hardcore punk – a heady brew at the best of times – however, this isn’t some misaligned and horribly misjudged combo ala Morbid Angel’s Illud Divinum Insanus for example, no, not at all. Candy manage to splice all these influences together with ease, creating a coherent whole that is equal parts scathing and intriguing. They certainly throw some curveballs into the mix throughout the duration of Its Inside You – but everything comes together masterfully.
Kicking things off, the growling bass of eXistenZ heralds a barrage of distorted breakbeats underneath a brutal slice of industrial tinged hardcore. The intensity levels are set to 11 straight from the off – a short and sweet slice of sonic ultra-violence. Short Circuit is the second track and features Aaron Melnick who was the original guitarist for the band Integrity. This track leans heavily into the hardcore arena (unsurprisingly) all the while carrying a subtle industrialised tone throughout, before the synth-driven outro mixes nicely into the next track, You Will Never Get Me, which features another guest appearance, this time it’s Justice Tripp from Trapped Under Ice.
It kicks off with a straight up 4/4 drum kick that reminds me instantly of Fear Factory’s New Breed, as the track progresses, there are even hints of early Godflesh and Pitchshifter in there. Hardcore yet again provides the backbone but given that delicious Candy coating (see what I did there?). The title track is up next and is coincidentally one of my favourites on the record, Its Inside You throws some digital hardcore / Atari Teenage Riot style drum patterns at you with ripping guitars layered over the top, the hardcore vocals kick off and you would be forgiven for thinking this was a homage to Ministry around the halfway mark – this isn’t a bad thing at all! It’s nice to hear DHR inspired industrial metal rear its ugly head again, being that I am a huge fanboy of that particular blend of extreme music.
Their specialty lies in fusing together an incendiary blend of industrial metal, noise, grind, digital hardcore and hardcore punk…
Love Like Snow is the first of the curveballs – somehow managing to mix synth-wave, industrial and hardcore metal albeit any sign of guitars is buried underneath many, many layers of synthesised fuzz. It took me a few listens for this track to sink in, but it breaks the album’s flow nicely, giving you a little bit of a reprieve from the hyper aggressive tracks that preceded it. Speaking of hyper aggression – Dehumanize Me dips into old Nailbomb-esque territory, chugging industrial riffs dripping with punk attitude delivering an absolute savage burst of audio carnage as the track pummels you into submission before a heavy breakdown ends the track.
The rest of the record continues along a similar vein, ripping through tracks such as Terror Management and Silent Collapse, each raising the intensity stakes as you head to the end of the long player. Then you reach the last two tracks Dancing To The Infinite Beat and Hypercore – which veer off into proper digital hardcore inspired territory, echoing the early noughties electro-punk vibes of acts such as Rabbit Junk or Realicide. A great pairing to end the album, proving that fusing metal and electronics can actually work sometimes, rather than being an incoherent mess.
Few have managed it and whilst Candy absolutely wear their influences on their sleeves – they have managed to create something truly unique with Its Inside You – building upon its predecessor Heaven is Here and pushing things in some interesting new directions – overall, well worth your time, especially if you have a soft spot for late nineties/early noughties industrial metal vibe.
Label: Relapse Records
Band Links: Facebook | Bandcamp | Spotify | Twitter | Instagram
Scribed by: Todd Robinson
