REVIEW

The fourth album from Chinese metalcore band An Empty City.

Based in Guangzhou and formed in 2016, An Empty City currently operate as a four-piece consisting of Matt Huang (guitar), Goldfish (bass), Chester Tam (vocals), and Dante Sum (drums). Following a lineup change in 2022, the band’s latest release marks a clear stylistic expansion, incorporating clean vocals and more atmospheric guitar textures while actively exploring a crossover between metalcore and shoegaze.

Highlighted tracks

#1 “broken mirror”
A pivotal track that encapsulates the album’s direction, blending metalcore aggression with shoegaze’s ghostly beauty. Ferocious screams collide with fragile clean vocals, pulling the listener into a nightmarish space suspended between anguish and uneasy calm.

#2 “feather”
A melancholic, Deftones-adjacent heavy shoegaze piece that foregrounds sorrow and emotional weight. The song builds patiently before plunging into a crushing breakdown and scream in its final stretch, showcasing a metalcore-rooted sense of dynamics. It stands as one of the record’s strongest moments and a potential contender for the year’s standout tracks.

#4 “a fleeting mind captive in a shattered dream”
Opening with djent-influenced, gut-churning riffs, the track suddenly accelerates into blast beats before shifting into a dark shoegaze chorus. The contrast between oppressive guitars and delicate vocals is particularly effective.

In the latter half of the album, while metalcore remains the core framework, the band incorporates electronic elements such as breakcore, drawing listeners in with increasingly varied and dynamic arrangements.

The final two tracks close the album with lush, clean-vocal-driven heavy shoegaze, bringing the journey to an unexpectedly graceful conclusion. Although metalcore elements remain slightly dominant overall, the integration of shoegaze is handled with notable finesse, pointing toward promising future developments. Listeners drawn to artists such as the newer incarnation of fromjoy or Loathe will likely find much to appreciate here.