Traverse The Abyss Releases New Heavy-Hitting EP Smiling In The Suffering

 

Traverse The Abyss
Smiling In The Suffering
EP Review Written By Dan Nazar and Annie Schlottman
Edited By Annie Schlottman
June 17th, 2022

Traverse The Abyss, a metal band from Scranton, Pennsylvania, recently released a new EP titled Smiling In The Suffering.  It’s a heavy-hitting EP with varied musical styles and incorporates themes such as “haters” and fake people, death and mortality, and emotional and mental health issues. This is a unique and interesting EP and we definitely recommend giving it a listen. 

Formed in 2016, the current lineup of Traverse The Abyss includes:  Eric Abyss (vocals); “Iron” Mike White (lead guitar); David Wilczewski (drums); and Jamie Macheska (guitar). 

The band’s song-writing starts primarily with “Iron” Mike White pitching different guitar riffs out. Drums are then added, followed by rhythm guitar.  Lastly, lyrics are finalized to the vocal layout.  The majority of the lyrics are written by Eric Abyss. 

There are five songs on the Smiling In The Suffering EP.  Below is a synopsis of three of the tracks, as well as three music videos for three songs. 

The first song on the EP is called “Faucet Mouth”. It has hard-hitting riffs, some fry and guttural vocals and great lyrics. The track is about people saying things, whether it’s doubting you, putting you down, or just saying negative things and not caring

“Everybody’s got something to say/When they run their faucet fucking mouth/Turn it on and they’re spewing their shit/Don’t need this/I’m done”

The term “faucet mouth” references the haters or non-believers. The writer says that he doesn’t need this and that he is done with the noise the haters make. He is waiting for karma to come to the faucet mouths because he believes that his success is that karma, and ultimately the faucet mouths’ “backbones are exposed”, making them cowards and liars. 

The next song is “Only Human”. This song represents why you should love the ones that love you. It is about growing up and realizing that you haven’t cherished the ones that you are with and they end up in the ground. The regret of not accepting people, pushing them away, and not treating them as though they are “only human” could just lead to more sorrow and “what ifs”. Afterwards, do the memories fade or stay with you?

“With my friends now in their graves/And I wonder what if that was me/Would you care? Would you even care?”

Would someone care if you died? Would you be happy if you did? It almost seems like questions with no answers until you realize that we are all human and should celebrate the good times rather than focusing on the bad times and making more good times with loved ones. This has meaningful lyrics mixed with harsh vocals, a slight breakdown and awesome guitars, bass and drums.

The last song on the EP is called “Nemesis”. I feel like this song has a lot to do with anxiety, depression and just not feeling like you’re cut out for life in general. The singer refers to the mind as his “worst enemy” as it “devours” him and leaves him as “another victim of anxiety”. He calls himself a “shell smiling in the suffering” and says that humans are “defiling an Earth oh so clean”, as if to say that we are lacking in the humanity we are supposed to have, by treating our home or each other like trash.  

It seems to be that the person in this song is having an existential crisis. He is drowning in said crisis so much that he is “numb to the touch” and “hates everything they love”, as if to say he is also pushing away people in his life. This is one of the slower songs compared to the rest, but it still comes as hard as the other songs with the guitars, vocals and bass.

The EP also has three music videos. One for “Faucet Mouth”, another for “Frankenshuffle” and lastly one for “Only Human”. 
 

The music video for “Faucet Mouth” is really quite off-the-wall and funny. It shows the band in different outfits representing different genres all doing really ridiculously stereotypical things. For example, dressing like country singers, drinking out of red solo cups then having a red solo cup tossed in the air to be randomly chainsawed in half. It is a really funny video worth the watch.

The video for “Frankenshuffle” is basically a Halloween-themed music video that is hilarious. They come up with goofy names for themselves as monsters and find themselves at a Halloween rager party. I love it and I hope everyone else does, too.

The last music video is a very sentimental video for “Only Human” that fits the lyrics to a tee. It is more serious than the other two and has more of a softhearted vibe that is meant to convey a message of love and compassion to everyone who watches. According to Abyss, “A few friends passed away during the writing of this song, so it holds sentimental value alongside the message to cherish the time you have with the people in your life.” 

Traverse The Abyss just got done with the “Keystone Swing” – four shows in four days in Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, Allentown, Harrisburg) as well as Syracuse, New York. The band held its EP release party June 17th at The V Spot in Scranton. Friday, July 1st, Traverse The Abyss will be playing with The Difference Between, The Aegean, and Isolation at Karl Hall in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Later this summer the band will do a run of northeast and mid-Atlantic shows in support of the EP.  Also, Traverse The Abyss will be at Artie’s Bar and Grill in Frenchtown, New Jersey, September 4th with Upon A Burning Body, Signs Of The Swarm, Vulvodynia, and Decayer.

Traverse The Abyss can be found on Facebook, Spotify, Bandcamp, Linktree, and the band's website.

Smiling In The Suffering track listing

Faucet Mouth

Only Human

Trainwreck

Frankenshuffle

Nemesis

 

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