Review: Anna Pest – Dark Arms Reach Skyward with Bone White Fingers II: Be (Not) Afraid
Artwork by: Melanie Hutchins
Style: Deathcore, Progressive Metal, Technical Death Metal, Deathgrind (Harsh Vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Cattle Decapitation, Distant, Within Destruction, To The Grave, Lorna Shore
Country: Canada
Release date: 1 January 2026
Hideaki Anno’s Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995) is a philosophically dense, symbolically obtuse anime grounded by harrowing explorations of grief, isolation, teenaged angst, and dysfunctional families projected against the backdrop of a mecha anime where Humanity battles against eldritch “Angels” in giant biomechanical suits, the eponymous Evangelions. Yet, despite the existential horror and stark bleakness that informed much of the original show and its film, End of Evangelion (1997), the series transmutation a decade later with the Rebuild films (2007-2021) ultimately revealed Anno’s vision to be one of hope forged from true connection, codified by forgiveness, healing, and renewal.
Likewise, April Hutchins, ringleader of Canadian progressive deathgrind triumvirate Anna Pest, has set out to create a work of connectivity and love with their fourth LP, Dark Arms Reach Skyward With Bone White Fingers II: Be (Not) Afraid. Dark Arms II is a wholly autobiographical affair concerning Hutchins’ journey over the last five years. My first and only encounter with Anna Pest was through their 2022 EP A Moor Beneath the Cold Dead Sun, a blistering three-track sermon of serpentine prog death metal festering with mathcore violence that knocked me sideways with the strength of a well-produced right hook. Now, I’m back and ready for another round with these Canuckleheads. Does Dark Arms II have the reach? Or will those bone white fingers fail to find purchase?
You won’t have to wait twenty-six episodes and six movies for the answer: Anna Pest have absolutely killed it with this record. By the time I was recovering from getting cratered by opener “Second Impact”, follow-up tracks “Unfamiliar Ceilings” and “Position Target” were knocking me around like Evangelion protagonist Shinji in his first showdown with an Angel, no quarter given as the fourpeat grindcore snare hit heralded the coming of “Pull the Switch” like a fist to the face. But while “Moongazer” had my eyes skyward seeking heaven as the life was strangled out of me, suddenly ferocity became friendship. The violent deathcore tides parted and guest Abriction raised me up on sing-songy wings of auto-tuned vox, backdropped by a guitar line like the sun rising on a new day. Though the warm vibes eventually collapsed back into a calculated sea of alarm clock guitar and red-teethed aggression, it was a crucial first sign of what Anna Pest have built here. That little break created space within the violently intersecting layers of Dark Arms II that, like Shinji glimpsing the Golgotha Object lurking beyond the Doors of Guf, primed my consciousness for further levels of understanding beyond “riff go hard.”
With extreme music, and especially death- and grindcore, there is a habit of suffocating the listener in aural violence and technical madness, blast beating drums body-shotting your mortal shell while grinding guitarwork and demon-possessed vocals tear at your ears. In the “epic” offshoots, bombastic orchestration further seeks to cave in your skull and bury you. There is often little respite aside from the occasional interlude, and for as good—even great—as much of this music can be, all the brutality and excess feels like an obligation as opposed to purposeful, and renders the very notion of pacing nothing more than collateral damage. Dark Arms II is hardly a forsaker of excess, of course. There’s plenty of angular mathcore psychopathy and caveman thuggery alike to be had across the album’s hour runtime, and Hutchins’ harshes are appropriately monstrous throughout. However, by applying an internal structure1, Anna Pest have made pacing an essential factor in what makes the album so deliriously effective.
By the time Dark Arms II reaches the spoken word midpoint that is “Introjection”, it feels like a natural resting point, a much-needed time to recharge as the album gears up for the second half. Anna Pest understand a journey is more rewarding when given over to peaks and valleys, subtle shifts in the sonic terrain that make the details emerge all the more clearer. And what details there are, like the arpeggiated guitar run in “Do You Want To Become One With Me?” leading into the two-minute mark that absolutely fucks, pulling you into an inescapable event horizon of pure groove and refusing to let go. Hutchins and fellow guitarist John Angel are like an army in and of themselves, deploying a battalion of incredible riffs, runs, and solos. They switch from low-brow grindcore (“Second Impact”, “Unfamiliar Ceilings”) to skronky mathcore, grinding djent chugs (“Sundancer”), and even hope-tinged emocore lines (“Moongazer”). Drummer Colin MacAndrew wields a sinuous dexterity that enforces the album’s energy while ensuring everything stays on track. Even the interludes (“Introjection”, “Air”) feel necessary to the album’s arc. By the time closer “A Benediction” comes around, I’ve felt like a journey has been taken, the swelling synths and swirling guitars culminating in an earned finale, rather than a mandated one.
And what -core connected album would be complete without a bevy of features? Whereas other deathcore bands may pick vocalists from within their scene, Anna Pest bring a number of independent artists from the electronic, blackgaze, and sludge spheres, including the aforementioned Abriction, and Mackay Agellon (Ashbreather), the latter providing saxophone on “A Benediction”. Not to mention the slew of friends and family members Hutchins assembled for “Introjection”, whose personal accounts of survival, frustration, and love reinforces the autobiographical nature of the album and themes of connectivity and community. Dark Arms II truly feels like a celebration of the community Hutchins has carved out for herself, a work designed to honor not only her journey but those of everyone involved. As she says on their Bandcamp page, the album is an invitation to hopefully see oneself reflected back in the work. And to realize—as Shinji ultimately does in Evangelion—that there is more connecting us than could ever divide us.
To say I expected a deathcore album to resonate so immensely with me would have been to spin a fib. I’ve long cultivated a fondness for the genre and its spidery offshoots, but much of it struggles to land in the “essential” category. Yes, bands like To The Grave have tackled environmental collapse with infectious vitriol on Global Warning, and Lorna Shore have been hailed for Ramos’ heartfelt lyricism, especially on Pain Remains. But thanks to both bands’ slavish commitment to the genre’s maximalist demands, their intricacies and heart can be frustratingly difficult to excavate. Not so with Dark Arms Reach Skyward With Bone White Fingers II: Be (Not) Afraid, which balances anger and viscerality against moments of reflection and acceptance via smartly composed songs and an informed tracklist that knows when to smash through your walls and when to apologize and pay for damages. At a time where our basic humanity is under siege and any sense of community has been steadily eroded by the callous systems of power enslaving us, Anna Pest have shown just what the power of community and shared humanity can create.
In some way or another, we’re all Hutchins. We’re all Shinji. We’re fighting desperately to be heard, reaching out (skyward) in the hopes that someone will reach back. But it’s in the quiet moments interstitching all the noise that we are given a chance to take stock. And hopefully, to see that we’re not so alone after all.
Recommended tracks: Position Target, Pull the Switch, Moongazer, Do You Want To Become One With Me?, A Benediction
You may also like: Thotcrime, Death Meta, Beyond the Structure, Strike Avenue, The Mensis Ritual
Final verdict: 9/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram
Label: Independent
Anna Pest is:
– April Hutchins (vocals, guitars, programming)
– Colin MacAndrew (drums, additional vocals)
– John Angel (guitars, additional vocals)
With guests:
– Chloé Bourdeau (vocals on “Unfamiliar Ceilings”)
– Riley Karam (vocals on “Pull the Switch”)
– Abriction (vocals on “Moongazer”)
– Mad Grandemange (vocals on “Sacred Angel, Bleeding Angel”)
– Mackay Agellon (saxophone on “A Benediction”)
– Eli Howle (spoken word on “Introjection”)
– Holly Jensen (spoken word on “Introjection”)
– Jade Elizabeth Perron (spoken word on “Introjection”)
– Lau Pichette (spoken word on “Introjection”)
– Melanie Hutchins (spoken word on “Introjection” & “Air”)
– Noah Thiffault (spoken word on “Introjection” & “Do You Want to Become One With Me?”)
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