Review: Entheos – Empty on the Inside
Style: Metalcore, Progressive Death Metal, Pop Metal (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Spiritbox, Evanescence, Bullet for my Valentine, Marilyn Manson
Country: US-TN
Release date: 23 October 2026
Any band that garnered some amount of recognition will ultimately face the same challenge: how to evolve their sound without losing what made them special. Too much deviation may alienate old-time fans,1 while stagnation leads to disinterest. Something’s gotta pay the bills, and some styles just don’t; yet trying to appeal to a wider audience inevitably evokes cries of “Sell-outs!” Whatever bands do, there will always be some asshole somewhere who’ll bitch about “artistic integrity”.2 We music fans are an unpleasable bunch after all. Entheos, a US two-piece formed by veteran multi-instrumentalist Navene Koperweis (most notably ex-Animals as Leaders) and vocalist Chaney Crabb, made a bold move with their newest outing, Empty on the Inside. Entheos’ previous effort, Time Will Take Us All, was a fun, proggy deathcore affair with sophisticated guitar flourishes and a few surprising stylistic inclusions—just about as heavy as I can still unironically enjoy. Empty on the Inside sounds nothing like that.
This time around, deathcore is almost completely missing from the genre mix on Empty on the Inside. There are a few heavier breakdowns, sure, and warthogs and goblins do make an appearance here and there; but mostly, it’s just Crabb shouting angrily about how angry she is. Actually, not even that half the time, as her focus noticeably shifts towards moody pop vocals. Those impressive guitar leads that made Time Will Take Us All so endearing—except for a brief cameo in “Hell is a Part of Me”—are also gone. Instead, we get a plethora of competent but standard, chuggy riffs. In fact, “competent but standard” could be said about all the instruments. From a purely technical perspective, the busy drumwork is impressive, but beyond rapid-fire blast beats and headbangable grooves, Koperweis rarely does anything rhythmically interesting. The good news is that the bass is not buried in the mix, which gives Empty on the Inside some much-needed extra punch. “Call My Name’s” dramatic intro, for instance, gains most of its gravitas from the prominent low end.
What we have on Empty on the Inside is poppy metalcore with one foot still in nu metal. In fact, everything about this record screams mid-2000s. The detached vocal delivery in calmer sections laden with electronica has that gothic feel that could have landed them on the soundtrack of some cheesy vampire flick or video game; the bouncy grooves make me think of backflipped baseball caps and oversized pants; and the played-out “beauty and the beast” routine on vocals is dripping with teenage angst. Even the harsher segments have a radio-friendly feel that takes me back to the time when nu metal was THE thing. Thankfully, Empty on the Inside features no rap intrusions. What the album does best is nostalgia. If you’ve ever wondered how the music of your childhood would sound if it were heavier, here you go. Sadly, Empty on the Inside offers little more.
Initially, I wanted to go easy on Empty on the Inside. Overall, not great, not terrible; the record is performed competently and sounds decent enough.3 What soured me on the album was how immature it is. While not exactly deep, Time Will Take Us All does have a nice sense of solemnity to it. Empty on the Inside, on the other hand, goes well into edge-lord territory. The track titles are no better. “Hell is a Part of Me” is immediately contradicted by “Empty on the Inside”,4 followed by “Hollow” just to hammer the point home. This try-hard attitude also plagues the vocals: the cleans got that slightly aloof presentation that makes modern pop so irritating, while the harshes sound less pained and more painful. What I caught from the lyrics was also moan-inducing. The lowest point arrives in the closer “The Earth Will Move”, whispered in a husky tone:
“If there’s still beauty in this life,
Then it is nowhere to be found,“
making my eyes roll with cringe so hard I need to take a ginger pill. Empty on the Inside feels like it was written for a fifteen-year-old girl who decided she’s too edgy for Skillet. Seriously, I half expected the singer to yell “Get out of my room!” at some point.
Whether Entheos wanted to get something off their chest or tried to appeal to a wider audience, I cannot tell. Empty on the Inside comes off as quite commercialized, optimized for cheap thrills, rather than genuine artistry. The band left out everything that made Time Will Take Us All enjoyable and doubled down on the lame parts, resulting in a sound I could sum up as Evanescence-core. I hope this move pays off for them, as Entheos are clearly not without talent, and with a secure bank, they might be more willing to attempt a more nuanced take on their style. As it stands, Empty on the Inside is fine on a technical level; however, the songwriting is too dated, uninspired, and so unbearably edgy that I cannot heartily recommend the album. Hmm, there might be some poetry to the title after all…
Recommended tracks: Hell is a Part of Me, Empty on the Inside, Undone
You may also like: Calva Louise, Poppy, Port Noir
Final verdict: 4/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram
Label: Metal Blade Records
Entheos is:
– Chaney Crabb (vocals)
– Navene Koperweis (all instruments)
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