It’s a dream, or maybe a nightmare. You’ve just spent your weekend at the dentist, resulting in an unforeseen, and rather painful repair that leaves you feeling under the weather. Then, you receive a call, it’s from your editor. You really must cover the debut EP from an exciting new artist. Their name, Showing Teeth. Will this ironic twist of fate leave you smiling, or will you have to grin and bear it?
Buzz surrounds Showing Teeth, despite having released just two singles they opened for Bring Me The Horizon on their ‘Count Your Blessings’ Anniversary shows. ‘A Fate Worse Than Loneliness’ has to justify that excitement. Let’s be clear, it does. In effect the seven tracks are a showreel saying this is what we can do.
It’s not hard to see why everyone is so excited; vocalist Addison is a TikTok sensation. There’s some debate if her name is an alias but her 2023 videos of her singing in the car went viral. The reason, her voice is stunning. Not only can she sing but her screams vary in style and intensity. This incredible style places her in the pantheon of metal vocalists alongside Poppy and Courtney LaPlante. That good.
On this EP she collaborated with multi-instrumentalist Zach Munowitz, Periphery drummer Matt Halpern and producer Dan Book. The resulting music is both thrilling and absolutely crushing. Each song has its own feel and style but the combination of sounds is impressive as it is intense.
The opener ‘Bad Exchanges’ is the kind of metal Knocked Loose make, layering breakdown-upon-breakdown-upon-breakdown. It’s a muscular song that uses buzzsaw, wasplike guitar parts to create a sound so violent and aggressive that the actual breakdown feels like a reprieve. Never mind it leaving you grinning, you might need novocaine.
While the two previously released songs offer a twist on the same style, each has their own distinct features. The thudding guitar tone and pig squeals on ‘Rip’ feel dangerous while ‘Labyrinth’ uses a djent guitar style and high, slightly processed singing to give it a modern metal edge. Both feel urgent, grubby and remarkably on-pulse.
Excitingly, they explore other styles. With its groove riffs, electronic verses and big chorus ‘Make It Out’ is a great slice of modern alt-metal. However, the highlight proves to be the blistering ‘Shallow Grave’ which blends these ideas into a crushing song about self-reflection. Indeed, the EP’s title and lyrical tone reference the so-called ‘loneliness epidemic’, capturing the cultural moment with its the meme-adjacent EP cover featuring a yawning kitten with sharp teeth. It’s a brilliant image, capturing a wry sense of humour and conveying the band’s modern sensibilities.
The closing track ‘Paradigm’ offers something different. Piano-based, in a style reminiscent of Flyleaf, it drifts on a melody until its clicking, shifting drum loop, contorts it into a huge arena-filling ballad, proving their scope matches their ambitions.
The hype is justified. ‘A Fate Worse Than Loneliness’ isn’t just Showing Teeth, it’s baring fangs. It’s audio dentistry: Skilful, painless, and will leave you grinning from ear to ear.
IAN KENWORTHY