Japanese rock juggernauts coldrain are releasing their latest album Nonnegative via Warner Music on July 6th. This record commemorates the last 15 years of coldrain‘s enormous success.
From supporting bands like Bullet For My Valentine, and playing festivals like Rock Am Ring, Download Fest, and Vans Warped Tour, coldrain has established themselves as the worldwide face of post-hardcore music.
We got a sneak peek at Nonnegative, which we believe will be the hard rock album of the decade. Check out our thoughts below!
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Photo Credit: Jesse Kojima
coldrain’s upcoming album Nonnegative is the definition of heavy rock in the 2020s.
The 12-track LP is a hard rock masterpiece. From intense, hardcore riffs to the pounding rhythms, Nonnegative encompasses the best trends in rock music over the last four decades with coldrain’s iconic sounds. In just one track, listeners will go from early 2000s vibes to late 80s to current rock music feels. Lyrically, coldrain speaks on the deepest, darkest struggles that humanity is facing. This passionate record ultimately helps listeners express their pent up emotions from the last few years of chaos.
Nonnegative opens with “Help Me Help You” which starts with a hard drum opening and guitar riffs. Lyrically, the song sounds like a cry for community. My favorite lines are: “Say what we wanna say, when we wanna say it / Be what we wanna be, when we wanna be it / They’ll never beat us all”. The universal desire for freedom and unity screams in this track and the entire album; a message we can all relate to.
The third track is one of my favorites. “Cut Me” opens with a catchy rockin’ guitar melody that is sure to get pits fired up in any venue. When the chorus sings “Make me the enemy, just cause I disagree”, I felt that! In our individual relationships and in our communities, we have forgotten how to agree to disagree. Peace is lost at the intense feeling that those who do not agree are automatically enemies. That’s some powerful thinking right there.
Not only does Nonnegative by coldrain capture our hearts & bodies through the hard-hitting drums and kick-ass guitar melodies, but also our minds with its emphasis on humanity’s biggest problems.
Track 5 is titled “Bloody Power Fame” and the chorus screams “It’s all out of control / Nothing will save us anymore.” The musicality of this track matches the theme perfectly. It feels like a desperate confession from the whole world. The ending sings “All we want is money, power, and fame” and is such an accurate depiction of today’s society.
This moves smoothly into track six “Here With You” which has the best guitar solo we’ve heard in years. Definitely wish the solo was longer, though! I absolutely love hearing coldrain just shred it.
Moving ahead to track 9, “2020” opens with a monologue about the worldwide pause of March 2020. The emotional piece leads into a screaming start of the first chorus. The bridge showcases a gritty guitar riff which leads to the explosion of the last chorus. I don’t want to spoil too much, but let’s just say this track was the most relevant and most impactful for me emotionally.
Track 10 “Rabbit Hole” seems to have a more personal feel to its lyrics while still packing the same punch of drums and guitars as the other tracks on the record.
Track 11 is a kick-ass cover of one of my favorite pop classics. You’ll have to wait for the album to know which song 😉
Nonnegative closes with “From Today”, the perfect call-to-action rock track.
While you have to wait until July 6th to hear Nonnegative in full, you can check out the singles released from the record below!
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