Gideon’s much anticipated third full length album, Calloused, -out on Facedown Records – dropped on October 14th .
With Calloused, Gideon has somehow found a way to up the intensity of their first two albums – Costs, and Milestone, – and with a slightly more polished sound.
The band’s hardcore roots are present, loud and clear, but Gideon has gone bit more Nu Metal with this release, which is noticeable in a lot of the guitar work. This nu metal flavour is sprinkled throughout, and especially in tracks like “Savage,” and “Prison Eyes,” which has a real Korn vibe to it.
“Survive” is a stand out song on its own, before even mentioning that it features Beartooth’s Caleb Shomo. I am a serious Beartooth fan, so I was stoked to hear the combination of his voice with Gideon’s Daniel McWhorter. It’s good and crunchy, has a great sing-a-long clean chorus, and is probably lyrically one of the most memorable of the album.
Calloused provides plenty of powerful, positive anthems and tackles some more difficult moments like “World of Hurt,” which McWhorter says is about his younger sister going through some tough times where suicide looked like the only way out. He offers some encouragement: “So don’t tell me/ tell me you’re okay/ the truth hurts/ but hit me with it anyway/ you’re my flesh and blood/ a part of me/ and when you bleed, I bleed.”
Gideon has given us their in-your-face signature hardcore sound blended perfectly with nu metal punches in a career defining album. Calloused offers breakdowns galore, some serious chunky guitar, and McWhorter’s vocals are downright ferocious at times. Calloused is a solid overall 4/5.
Standout tracks for me are“Prison Eyes”, “Survive,” and “Calloused.”
Check out the band’s website: http://gideonal.com/
or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GideonAL
Giants in the Sound 