Labels: Zegema Beach Records/Ephyra Recordings
Formats: Vinyl/CD/Tape/Digital
Release Date: 31 Mar 2026
Tracklist:
1. Vanity, a Fractured Promise
2. Claymore
3. Color Slowly Fading
4. |
5. ||
6. A Quiet Ending
7. The Stillness Between Us
8. ...And The Sunlight Spoke
9. In This Moment,
10. This Room Could Be Heaven.
It feels like Zegema Beach Records are really switching it up this year. Entering their god-tier era if you will. I guess you could argue that they've been at that tier for a long time though! March 31st saw them release the debut album This Room Could Be Heaven. by US metalcore/metallic hardcore band Concealer. It follows the double EP Heartfelt Entries, that was also released via ZBR in 2024 and gathers together the two earlier EPs that Concealer and Armageddon Records put out.
250 copies on white w/black and red splatter vinyl were pressed and have unsurprisingly sold out. Ephyra Recordings are handling CD and tape pressings, which still appear to be available via their webstore as I write this.
I may have abandoned my roster review series, where I was trying to write about every ZBR release in chronological order, but I think it’s been worth it to focus on their current output this year. I just need to pick up my pace! Given how incredibly strong the screamo community is right now, it’s no surprise that a band like Concealer has managed to captivate so many fans. Starting off This Room Could Be Heaven. with ‘Vanity, a Fractured Promise’, they present an immediate collage of epic emoviolence/screamo coupled with introspective melodic post-hardcore/emo. The instrumentation is frenetic percussion-wise and riff-filled, while the vocals are that mix of harsh screams and glorious cleans that really stand out.
As somebody who was discovering music like this back in the early 2000’s through the likes of Funeral For A Friend, Hopesfall, etc, it’s amazing to see bands taking it to a current day audience. I know that people can still discover those earlier bands through the Internet but sometimes it’s nicer to just find them organically. ‘Claymore’ was the second single to come from the album and it’s easy to why it was chosen to be one, as it’s filled with excellent metalcore/hardcore that’s too good to ignore. Concealer have nailed this sound to the point where it sounds heavy but not abrasive.
The third and final song to be released prior to the album was ‘Color Slowly Fading’ and it’s every bit the metalcore song you hoped it would be. Both heavy and pensive when it needs to be, Concealer give it everything. The clean vocals provide a welcome sense of nostalgia when set up against the harsh screams, while the musicianship charts a course filled with pummelling drums and guitar work that’ll make you grin from ear to ear.
‘I’ is a song with a very different atmosphere. It starts with harsh noise and building screams, before retreating to reveal some full-band instrumental work and spoken-word passages laid over the top. It leads (after an agonising pause) to ‘II’, which is mathcore-esque from the start. That heaviness soon gives way to Deftones inspired vocals that fit absolutely perfectly. It’s wild to think about how much great music has already been released this year and how much I’m still missing out on.
Moving into the album’s latter half, Concealer reveal ‘A Quiet Ending’, which is anything but quiet. It’s a bruising amalgam of all the genres and sub-genres that give it life. It’s 2026 but it doesn’t sound like it should exist in this year and I think that’s the takeaway. I go back to what I said at the beginning of this post about god-tier eras. We’re existing in one right now and maybe don’t realise it!
‘The Stillness Between Us’ is gentile, features dance-like beats, quiet guitars and subtle clean vocals that show yet another side to Concealer’s varied musical palette. That variation is what stands out the most here, as the band are not afraid to take things from the brink of chaos to uplifting euphoria. ‘…And the Sunlight Spoke’ quickly dispels any euphoria though (depending on how you view it) as Concealer put their best screamo foot forward. It goes to prove that labelling them as this and that really doesn’t help. You should just enjoy them for what they are, which is excellent.
Penultimate song ‘In This Moment,’ feels like a noise-laden precursor to closing title-track ’This Room Could Be Heaven.’ and indeed it is. Once again, shades of nu-metal influence make their way into the music as Concealer blast out one final number that shows just how mature and intelligent their songwriting is. The musical landscape is forever evolving. It’s twenty years this year since Bring Me The Horizon released Count Your Blessings and people are saying that Knocked Loose are the next big act (deservedly so), but there are so many others that are worthy of greater praise.
Concealer are still at the start of their career but with this album they’re already showing that they’re destined for greater things. What else is there to say. If you’ve slept on this or you’re only just discovering them, now is the perfect time to put right those wrongs. Cross everything for a repress on any physical format too. It needs to happen!
You can stream and purchase This Room Could Be Heaven. from Concealer on bandcamp below:-
CD/Tape copies are available to buy from Ephyra Recordings here -https://ephyra.bigcartel.com/products?page=1
Ephyra Recordings Instagram - @4ephyra
Zegema Beach Records Instagram - @zegema_beach
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