Final Girls is on the precipice of something great – and their new EP, Prey On the Weak, is just the beginning. Three songs, clocking in at just over 10 minutes, give us a taste of what’s to come – and it’s proper death metal with a strong groove and occasional melodic influences. That descriptor doesn’t truly encapsulate how this record moves seamlessly between filthy riffs, gnarly breakdowns, and a haunting vocal cacophony. This is a well-thought-out and properly composed offering of songs with incredibly strong arrangements that don’t waste your time. It’s all killer, with no filler. While most bands at this level fizzle out over time, the grassroots efforts of this band to garner attention outside of their local scene are starting to pay off, and heads are turning in their direction. This is the pinnacle of underground metal.
From the opening track “Gallows,” Final Girls gets right into it. Layered death vocals weaved into clean vocals immediately evoke a nostalgia for early-2000’s Eths records, despite the fact that the band members were barely born when Eths broke down that barrier with Autopsie and Samantha in 2000/2002. Vocalist Casey Cruz is pushed to the forefront of this song, in part to establish the band’s new identity and cement this lineup and this sound. Given the stylistic shift, Casey is the vocalist they needed, and they’re flaunting it.
Next up is the single from the EP, “Arachne,” which drops the clean vocals completely for a pure death metal onslaught. This song doesn’t need to beg for a mosh pit; it simply needs to exist, and the pit forms around it. The track, otherwise, absolutely rips. Guitarist Ashleigh Hernandez really comes into her own here, cranking out riffs that consistently engage without repeating herself. This was the best choice for a single, and having seen them play this one live before the release of this EP, it already shakes the room.
My absolute favorite thing about the EP’s closer, “Parasite,” is listening to drummer Sofia DeMasi commands the groove in this track, changing the feel in all the right spots. Stylistically landing somewhere between the Lamb of God-esque drumming of Chris Adler and Light This City’s Ben Murray, DeMasi feels years ahead of her time. Locked in completely with fellow founding member Sofia Albanese on bass, the pair produced the ugliest breakdown to close out the EP. Both Sofia’s, the band’s earliest members and anchors, are a well-oiled machine throughout. Their years of playing together really show. Though weaved throughout the EP, the band really leans into some of their more horror themes here on this track, to great effect.
It’s wild to me, an elder millennial with checkerboard Vans, that such a young band would put out an EP that doesn’t sound out of place alongside The Black Dahlia Murder or Lamb of God. But Final Girls doesn’t define the state of death metal in 2024 – they’re setting the precedent of death metal to come, and the bar is set high.
Final Girls’ upcoming EP, Pre On the Weak, is scheduled to arrive on August 9th. Pre-save the album here and visit the band’s new webstore at this location. The official EP release show will be at the Mandala Nightclub in Passaic, NJ on August 9th.
