I had never heard of End of One until I was interviewing Jay Mindforce for a podcast. He explained End of One to me as a Hudson Valley band that played death metal, but as opposed to donning the regular apparel for a band of such a nature, wore oversized Polo gear and had an urban flavor about themselves in a live setting.
He either sent me or told me what releases to look up on YouTube (the only platform you could find anything streaming for them at the time) to get a flavor for this local HV relic. What I was met with quite surprised me.
Based on his description I was thinking I was going to be listening to some late '90s metalcore (I had also seen End of One described as proto deathcore, which I actually think is an apt description), instead I was met with tracks that legitimately had I not been given the inside information, I would have thought were crafted by dyed in the wool long hairs.
In 2021, Streets of Hate reissued the entire End of One discography on CD and streaming. These rare tracks could now be enjoyed by the masses that weren’t around for them in the late '90s.
Now, this resurgence of attention on End of One has brought them back from the dead with their brand new release, Immortal, also out on Streets of Hate. Once again I am floored by the fact that the band doesn’t look exactly like Suffocation with how this release sounds.
Driving death metal riffs, gruff vocals, and headbanging tempo changes define this EP. It’s all around impressive.
Each track sounds intentional and brings something to the landscape that I don’t think in the realm of hardcore is done as authentically as this right now.
I encourage everyone to give Immortal a listen and purchase a copy directly from Streets of Hate. End of One will be coming back to the stage as well, so if you get the chance to experience them live, do it.
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Tagged: end of one
