Future of Despair: S/T 12"

Future of Despair: S/T 12” (Archaic Records) This second release from Los Angeles’s Future of Despair came out on cassette in March 2024, but Archaic Records liked it enough to give it new life on a fresh 2026 vinyl pressing. I can see why this record caught Archaic’s ear; it’s an ambitious yet ripping slab of metal-punk whose breadth of scope and precision of execution are more than strong enough to be immortalized on wax. After opening with two tracks of brutal, hard-charging d-beat with a fuzzed, HM2-type guitar sound and gruff vocals that remind me of Jeppe from Disfear, Future of Despair takes their first stylistic detour with the third track, “Future of Despair.” This track is a lo-fi instrumental featuring a duo of electric guitar and a creepy-sounding organ laying down a somber melody that sounds like the moment of respite on an atmospheric black metal album. From there, it’s back into the heavy with “The Final Siege,” whose mid-paced tempo brings the band’s crust influences to the fore. Future of Despair’s d-beat and crust songs and parts are excellent: the performances are energetic, the arrangements are thoughtful and interesting, and riffing is original, with a touch of Tank-esque rock and roll flair, but for me the atmospheric / black metal touches really make the album special, whether it’s the atmospheric instrumentals like “Future of Despair” and “Barren Wastelands of a Desolate World” or bits that pop up in other songs, like the melodic, tremolo-picked guitar lead in “Ashes.” Clocking in at about 20 minutes long, Future of Despair leaves no space for redundancy or chaff, and the beautiful cover illustration by Burney matches the tone of the music perfectly. An excellent album deserving of more attention than it appears to have gotten thus far.