A hardcore show is an intensely physical experience: The kick drum’s shotgun blast to your chest, the locomotive action of distorted guitars driving a crowd into action, the guttural growls of a vocalist cutting their heart out and holding it up for all to see. Philadelphia’s Jesus Piece are masters of this energy: They wield their metallic brand of hardcore with punishing ferocity, delivering breakdowns engineered to coordinate the mosh pit’s chaotic energy. Their latest LP, So Unknown, is more fuel for that fire, a cathartic record colored by industrial-grade distortion and rhythms designed to compel bodies into motion.
Jesus Piece’s talent lies in the way they experiment with the fundamentals of a relatively static genre. Across its 28-minute runtime, So Unknown arranges energetic bursts in intervals that mirror the rhythms and movement of a hardcore show, with tempo changes that slow things down just enough to let you catch your breath before accelerating into head-splitting quarter-note triplets that teeter on the edge of chaos.
Jesus Piece tend to get tagged as metallic hardcore or metalcore, as well as more nuanced variations of the same: beatdown hardcore, hardcore groove metal, “more hardcore than metal.” They boast a unique mix of aggressive East Coast grooves and call-and-response vocals, offsetting metal’s melodic and theatrical tendencies with hardcore’s propulsive energy. Virtuoso drummer Luis Aponte wields punishing kicks, machine-gun snares, and funky, syncopated grooves with equal aplomb.
Much of their energy lies in the breakdowns—the part of the song where the arrangement is stripped to its essential elements to better suit moshers. Despite the tendency for contemporary bands to dress them up with flourishes or flashy solos, Jesus Piece properly break things down, coalescing behind a single beat or riff that concentrates all of their energy for maximum floor-punching impact.
The band draws its name from hip-hop slang for jewelry with Christian symbols, iconography typically used in heavy music as a foil for anti-religious or anti-authority sentiments. The music’s ties to hip-hop are tenuous at best; though Aponte and bassist Anthony Marinaro’s penchant for beats tinged with funk may inspire bobbing heads, the name mostly signifies their desire to distance themselves from metal cliches. (“We didn’t want a stupid metal sounding name,” vocalist Aaron Heard says.) Heard’s lyrics focus on themes of alienation, self-loathing, and violence as a tool for liberation, yet they’re not totally devoid of hope. “Gates of Horn” uses a classic trope from Greek literature to explore the veracity of our dreams, and in “Silver Lining,” Heard clings to paternal love as a way of coping with life’s bleak moments. But Heard’s screams seek to draw others in rather than push them away; even a cry like “Fuck the bullshit!” feels like a call to the band’s comrades in arms.
For a group that started as a “straight-up death-metal band,” Jesus Piece have found a sweet spot between the groove and the violence of music genetically engineered for the pit. Hardcore will never sound or feel as satisfying on record as it does coming from a stage, and experienced from within the pit, enveloped in the release of sweaty rage and other explosive emotional detritus. But the songs have to come from somewhere, and So Unknown, which bottles that rage and passion with a bit of funk, is a decent place to start.
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