apanthropy

Motherless
Do You Feel Safe?
Prosthetic Records
To Be Released: 9/12/25

Rating: 84/100

“Overall, the eight songs delivered here on Do You Feel Safe? are all consistent, strong, and well composed. Great tonality merges with methodical and crafty composing, leading to engaging and captivating riff work and alluring song structures. There are no games being played here, this is an honest record built by veteran musicians that have hit their objective dead-on.”

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1 – Reptile Dysfunction
2 – Abrupt Violence
3 – You Seem So Damn Sure
4 – Darling, You Don’t Look Well
5 – Weaponized Goodwill
6 – Christian Math
7 – Insect Politics
8 – The New Romance
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Chicago has always been one of the stronger markets in the United States when it comes to extreme music. It’s been a hotbed of underground metal since the late 1980’s and has never really slowed down. It’s not always outwardly vehement strains of metal, often showing a more nuanced, subtle, and tempered side to extreme expression. Enter Motherless, a band from Windy City that doesn’t fit into any one particular genre. While destructively heavy, it doesn’t quite reach the caustic exhibition of brutality that death metal is known for. A scathing, throat-shredding vocal performance, but not quite as manic and erratic as conventional black metal. Hard-hitting rhythmically powerful drumming, just not to the cyclical snare abuse levels of thrash or grind. Perhaps best described as an atmospheric metal band with elements of hardcore and hardcore punk, where the band really delivers is the non-stop artillery battery of riffs.

Featuring a line-up that consists of Stavros Giannopoulos and Alex Klein of The Atlas Moth alongside Gary Naples and Anthony Cwan of Without Waves, Motherless pack their newest album, Do You Feel Safe?, wall-to-wall with crushing riffs and perfectly accented drumming. Right from the start the band lays into the listener with a non-stop barrage of doomy and dense riff work that is highlighted with sonic character and depth. Album opener ‘Reptile Dysfunction’ is a whirlwind blur of rapid contrast, exchanging between melodic phrases and deep rumbling discordant runs. Verse sections invoke drive and rhythm comparable to older hardcore and hardcore punk with an emotive approach. Drums range from lighter, up-tempo rhythms to blistering double-bass volleys.

‘You Seem So Damn Sure’ runs the full gauntlet of emotions and execution. Opening with dark grinding chords over top a running blast beat, it quickly evolves into a downbeat intensive rhythm with a martial barrage of riffing before committing a breakneck transition into a more d-beat approach. Leads blaze bright through a fog of palm-muted chugging. Grim and uninviting chords batter the listener relentlessly.

The shortest track on the album is ‘Weaponized Goodwill,’ which really brings the older style hardcore execution to the forefront invoking the metallic onslaught and melodic interchanges that bands like Tragedy did early in their career.

Closing the album is one of the strongest tracks on Do You Feel Safe? ‘The New Romance’ is a slamming cut bringing the metallic hardcore sound straight to the face of the listener. It is here that the band feels and sounds most comfortable. The delivery and execution feel totally natural, nothing is forced, nothing is a gimmick, there are no pointless theatrics. It is raw emotion, engaging riff craft, and a purely ripping delivery. There is everything to like about this style of composing and songwriting.

Production on Do You Feel Safe? is hot and frontal. The guitar tones are absolutely monstrous, with middle and upper registers showing vibrancy while lower-pitched chords and single-note sequences are dense and thick while still retaining a full body. Drums are based around a lighter, neutral bass drum tone, with a snapping snare and cutting toms. Vocals are raw, frontal, and borderline agonizing. These are visceral screams that come from the soul, just pure throat-shredding delivery.

Overall, the eight songs delivered here on Do You Feel Safe? are all consistent, strong, and well composed. Great tonality merges with methodical and crafty composing, leading to engaging and captivating riff work and alluring song structures. There are no games being played here, this is an honest record built by veteran musicians that have hit their objective dead-on. Fans of Intronaut, The Ocean, Tragedy, and just riffs in general, stop what you’re doing and give this one a listen.

Label: Prosthetic Records
Band: Motherless

AJK