In the space of barely a breath, POISON THE WELL pacify fits of jarring brutality with moments of fragile beauty. Their unmistakable melodic hardcore gently dilutes betrayal, depression, and loss with hard-won wisdom and diligently earned self-acceptance. For as much force as they commit to the riffs and the breakdowns, there’s an equal amount of naked emotion encoded in their relatable hooks. At this point, they are unassumingly, yet undeniably embedded in the DNA of modern metal and hardcore.
POISON THE WELL’s 1999 debut, The Opposite of December...A Season of Separation has claimed spots on Brooklyn Vegan’s “15 ‘90s Metalcore Albums That Still Resonate Today,” KERRANG!’s “21 Best U.S. Metalcore Albums of All Time,” Loudwire’s “25 Best Metalcore Albums of All Time,” and Revolver’s “10 Most Influential Metalcore Albums of All Time.” Stereogum put it best, “The Opposite of December... A Season of Separation influenced a whole generation of metalcore bands.”
Meanwhile, 2003’s You Come Before You remains regarded among Metal Hammer’s “100 Greatest Metal Albums of the 21st Century” and Rock Sound’s “250 Greatest Albums of Our Lifetime.” Despite going on hiatus following 2009’s The
Tropic Rot, the group’s influence has only expanded over the years (as evidenced by over 100 million streams across their catalog).
After touring in 2015 and 2021, they’ve commemorated milestone birthdays of both You Come Before You and The Opposite of December with in-demand headline jaunts. Once again, the members — Jeff Moreira [vocals], Ryan Primack [guitar], and Chris Hornbrook [drums] — felt an intense need to create as a unit.
Rallying together, the guys channeled the spirit of their most celebrated material through a prism of new experience on their fifth full-length offering, Peace In Place
[SHARPTONE], introduced by the single “Thoroughbreds.”