Soul Exchange Slow Descent Review
Soul Exchange
Slow Descent
1126 Records
2026
Moving from melodic hardcore to all-out hardcore/metal, we have Austin, TX bruisers Soul Exchange and their latest, the pummeling and abrasive five songs of Slow Descent.
The band set out to capture a record that explores the stark and brutal reality of addiction and substance abuse from all angles, be they the perspective of the addict or the perspective of all those close to them. Vocalist Austin Greco tells these stories alongside guitarists Grant Gallo and Bryce Holloway, bassist Pete Varela, and drummer Colby Cameron. After quick writing sessions, they recorded with Kieran and Overcast Recordings while Young at The Pit handled the mix. Given their brand of metallic hardcore, the production here is clean and everything it needs to be: bottom-heavy, audibly live drums, surging bass, and earth-shaking down-tuned guitars atop hardcore barks/screams.
Moving on to the songs themselves, they too are everything you have come to expect from bands of this ilk. The riffs are heavy and palm-muted chugfests, the breakdowns are pit-ready, the drums are grooving and fast where needed, and the vocals are acerbic and full of vitriol. However, that is not to say that Soul Exchange are cookie-cutter modern hardcore here. I feel they straddle the line between that and the metallic hardcore of the mid to late 90’s by injecting some skilled guitar leads and even some death-metal-inspired riffing. They open things up with the string-scraped/false-harmonic-laden stomp of “Exchange Rate” and immediately go into “Familiar Poison,” which also features Discourage. The results are a mid-tempo crusher with some d-beat sections and harmonized wah-wah-powered leads, gang shouts, and a double-bass-filled breakdown/outro. The lyrics further add to the power by touching on the hopelessness of always returning to one's drug of choice and the chokehold it has on them. “In The Room But Not With Me” explores watching a loved one’s struggle and being helpless to do anything for them behind more mid-tempo riffing and a mournful clean-sung section that captures the anger and despair perfectly. “Cash and Cold Hands (featuring Disgrace)” starts out with Connecticut hardcore speed to then morph into a plodding double-bass section and fretboard movement and back again before another breakdown beats us to oblivion with dive-bombing lead work that recalls prime Gary Holt and Jeff Hanneman. It's clear the boys in Soul Exchange love some 80’s/90’s thrash here too. The lyrics are an indictment of how the dealers never care about the many downfalls they are contributing to, as long as they are getting that dollar. Finally, perhaps mercifully, they close things out with the title track, “Slow Descent.” It's more of the same of their punishing brand of songwriting where heavy is king, but then they flip things on a dime to give us an almost orchestral outro of piano and strings. It's a fitting end to a song that is all about how the addict slowly becomes someone else and is far removed from their previous life and has now become beholden to their new life, a life of substance abuse.
Slow Descent is a motherfucker of an EP that marries 1000 lb hardcore with equally weighty subject matter. I commend them for presenting such vulnerability here, even if that vulnerability comes by way of a sound that is hateful, misanthropic, and full of venom. My hope is that maybe those struggling with addiction will hear this EP and not only be moved by the well-arranged, dynamic, and vicious music, but by its message as well. Soul Exchange are undoubtedly progenitors of the biggest reason hardcore exists: to give the outsiders and those who need a hand up or a place to belong, an intense and accepting home…
RIYL- Tribal Gaze, Creeping Death, Portrayal of Guilt, Iron Age, All Out War, Hatebreed
~TB