Review by: Jordan Nathanson
Coldrain is kickstarting their 15-year celebration as a band by releasing their 7th studio album Nonnegative via Warner Music. Formed in Nagoya in the year 2007, this Japanese metalcore band easily steals hearts with their melodic guitar riffs, fast paced drums, and strong, heartfelt vocals. I will not lie, I was not expecting the lyrics to be in English, but even if they were not in English, that would not have changed the fact that you can hear vocalist Masato’s heart and soul in every word they sing. He is not the only one giving it his all, the guitar solos alone will make your heart melt. While listening to “Here With You”, I was blown away by the guitar solo and had to play the song on repeat just to hear it again. While most of their songs are fast paced, “Boys and Girls” has a slower tempo but builds as the song goes on. The emotion from this song alone in enough to bring tears to one’s eyes. The melody and the lyrics just mesh so well together and it still fits the new age rock/metalcore genre. Now I will not lie, while listening, I thought to myself that most of these songs would be great for Anime opening titles and sure enough, “Bloody Power Fame”, fresh off this new album, is the opening song for Bastard!! -Heavy Metal, Dark Fantasy- on Netflix. The song on its own is amazing, but when you watch the opening sequence along with it, you can see the power this song truly has. This is truly an album that will make your summer more metal than it already is. Make sure to check out Nonnegative on July 6th. You can stream their singles “Before I go”, “Calling”, “Paradise (Kill the Silence)”, and “Bloody Power Fame” on Spotify now.