There’s tons of great hardcore bands coming out of the Greater Boston area but there’s also a healthy dosage of metalcore breaking out of the Bay State. Metalcore was practically perfected by Massachusetts groups such as Converge and On Broken Wings, so it’s not surprising we’d still be pumping out metalcore like it was our job.
One band that stands out in the modern scene is South Shore’s Last Sight, which came to my attention when Burden vocalist Cameron Newton announced his newest group would go in a more metallic direction. Originally going by the name Eternal Reach at their inception, the band has changed their name and returned with big announcements and releases, teasing their debut album with a string of singles which have laid dormant for the entire pandemic.
Last Sight started off around the time of Cam’s departure from Burden, a lucky time as guitarist Mike was forming a new band. “My buddies Joe (guitar), Jason (drums) and I started playing together after I had played in a band with my brother, who had to leave because he had a baby. Around that same time Cam had left Burden and came into the fold and we tried out a couple bassists but now we’ve settled on Nick, the current bassist, who’s been phenomenal.”
After about a year of playing shows under the original name, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and halted all things with the band. Laying in wait for about a year and a half, sitting on recordings they had made, and with a sincere desire to release the material and play shows, Last Sight announced their return with their new moniker in October of last year. Opening for Ramallah in Brockton was the quintet's introduction to the scene and it was a mighty return as they ripped through their newer and fine-tuned material.
Last Sight's sound started off a bit more metallic but had a distinct hardcore structure in its songs which came from not only Cam’s love and history within the hardcore scene but the entire bands love of the genre.
When speaking on the Last Sight's influences, Mike stated: “We started out wanted to do something on the more metallic side of things but a little bit more hardcore and fun just to play around with all different genres and get everyone on the mic. I always wanted to play guitar and sing but was never good at it so I was like, ‘I’m gonna use this project as kind of a stepping stone to become a better player.'"
Cam added: “People like to compare us to Unearth but these are my influences: Death Before Dishonor, On Broken Wings, Cut Throat, The Rival Mob, Product of Waste, Hatebreed, Death Threat, and 100 Demons. Shout out to CTHC. All the forces came together with our sound, we all knew what we wanted to bring to the table.”
Last Sight's sound straddles along the lines of metal and hardcore, big enough to play with bigger name acts like Unearth but also ready to be on a bill with the hardcore groups that Cam listed.
Mike also explained that the rest of the band were influenced by metal acts that retain a strong following within the hardcore scene as well.
“Everyone else is super into bands like Killswitch Engage and Lamb of God, so again, the metal side really wins over because they’re the string players.” The bandmates also listed a wide range of influences such as The Dillinger Escape Plan, Killer Be Killed, Mastodon, Black Sabbath, Metallica, and CKY.
Earlier this month, Last Light dropped a new EP, No Matter What. The tracks “Temple Smoke” and “Inertia” were both released with accompanying music videos:
On choosing the EP's name, Cam stated he was adamant about having it be titled No Matter What, explaining, “I really pushed for it to be called that because in my eyes ‘No Matter What,’ the sentence, is like the most absolute and true statement you can make. It’s more serious than ‘I love you’ to me. It can be put toward so many things but it all boils down to the same meaning: not a damn thing will stand in your way from doing this.”
If we’re looking at it from the band's perspective it’s clear that they were going to get this music out no matter what.
“Temple Smoke,” the first single released from No Matter What, displayed the renewed sound the band had developed over the last two years in isolation. The guitars have so much more bite and chug along with the steady rhythms like a snake in the grass as Cam’s vocals spew out his frustrations at those who had made him feel less than throughout his life.
The second single, “Time Being” utilizes those charging rhythms and makes one of the hardest fight riffs of the year, right about the mid-point of the 2-minute affair. Clearly trying to bring out the worst in a crowds mentality in a way only a hardcore band could want to. There’s also some pretty frightening (the good kind of frightening) screams toward the end that showed Cameron taking his vocals to their apex, guitarist Joe also shrieks with an unmatched vocal performance here.
Last Sight's final single from the EP, “Inertia," shows the band's skill at producing lengthier songs and keeping them interesting. The lyrics standout in particular as Cameron sings: “Despite all of the odds, we’re still here.” A testament to the bands integrity and drive to do what they love so much in creating and playing music.
While the physical version of No Matter What does not have an official release date yet, the four tracks from the EP are up across all streaming platforms, and new merch is on its way: “We want to do a shirt that’s kind of a rip of NeverSoft which made the Tony Hawk games, so that’ll be cool,” explains Cam.
The band wants to shoutout the following people: "Gannon for helping us record our album, Ian (Echo Room), Gatekeeper Jam (Colin and Chris), You and No Echo, Risk, Mother Iron Horse. Ritual Blade, Sick Minds, Risk, The World, and BHC as a whole. Mother Iron Horse, Adrienne, Fuming Mouth, Mourned, and Return to the Pit!"
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Last Sight on Social media: Facebook | Instagram | Bandcamp
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