Beartooth - The Surface

When Beartooth booted us in the face with the unapologetically heavy, arena-invading 'Below' during a pandemic, it was like the world was their oyster. Built on vocalist Caleb Shomo confronting his demons during his basement sessions, 'Below' was an introspective exorcism we all needed.

Its follow-up 'The Surface' shoots for stadiums, and while it's ready-for-the-radio synths and sing-along choruses are bigger than ever, it sounds like Beartooth are too afraid to swim out the shallow end.

'The Surface' starts strong, suggesting it's the WrestleMania 3 of 'Below': 'bigger, better, badder!', 'Riptide' and 'Doubt Me' are undeniable bangers, anthemic sing-alongs shifting effortlessly into crushing, crunching riffs that slam so hard, they might as well shout "finish them!" But the Hardy-featuring, country-core of 'The Better Me', and the sold-out, sun-soaked, radio-rock of 'Might Love Myself' drop the ball. Later on, closer 'I Was Alive' sounds like State Champs stole Caleb Shomo's car and took it for a ride.

Late-album highlights 'What's Killing You' and 'What Are You Waiting For' attempt a resuscitation, bleeding out old-school Beartooth as mind-numbingly metallic breakdowns spin kick you six ways to Sunday, before choruses so hench in hooks they might as well have gym memberships land the knockout blow. They sandwich the only song that doesn't follow Bearooth's brand, and arguably the best song 'The Surface' offers. 'Look The Other Way' says a lot with a little; its campfire acoustics and piano swimming in the undercurrent wrap up Shomo's heartwrenching confession that "I'm afraid I'm slowly pushing you away, by showing you the deepest, darkest, weakest part of me" in a bundle you don't want to let go.

Where its blockbuster soundtrack says little as it shoots for the skies, 'The Surface' says a lot with its lyrics. If 'Below' was Shomo's death notes from rock bottom, 'The Surface' are his postcards from recovery. Whilst 'Riptide' sees Shomo come to terms with needing to get better - "Don't wanna sing another hopeless song, cause it's the last time that I romanticise the riptide" - 'What's Killing You' painfully helps him realise the weight of our pain on those we love, as he wallows "it's killing me seeing what's killing you". And on 'Look The Other Way', 'The Surface' bears its soul: this shift in sound, this change of mindset, is all for that one special person who said they'd "always be right here to keep me company, when I don't even love myself, you love me anyway."

'The Surface' could've been Beartooth's crowning achievement, yet its reluctance to break formation keeps them steady in second place for now.