HOLY by xDOULOSx | Review

We got another contender for one of the best albums you can check out this year!.

xDOULOSx grew out of the Doulos Car Club, a crew of lowrider builders and hardcore punks, and took their name from the Greek word Paul uses for himself in the first line of Romans: bondservant. HOLY follows their 2023 full-length Birth Pains on Rottweiler Records, and the band sounds heavier and far more adventurous this time around for me.

"Unforsaken" ignites this relentless EP with a war chant and a fist-pumping breakdown. The guitars come out crunchy and distorted, yet the mix stays crisp enough for the hymnals and chants to take center stage. Muffled, distorted vocals crackle like orders through a field radio, building an industrial atmosphere that evokes mechanized warfare. The title answers David's cry from Psalm 22, "why have you forsaken me?", with the promise of Hebrews 13:5: "I will never leave you nor forsake you."

"Revenge" bleeds right out of the opener and balances sorrow for time wasted with triumph at reclaiming the goodness that life and the salvation of Jesus have to offer. Romans 12:19 leaves vengeance to the Lord, so the revenge here turns on the years sin already stole. The group leans into the promise that Joel 2:25 claims to get those years back: "I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten."

"Psalm 43" is an absolute powerhouse and the standout of the record. The song is rapturous and cavernous, with a razor edge running through both. Spiritual warfare embodied. The momentum never dips, yet the riffs and melodies keep shifting in interesting ways, and the tempo moves right along with them. The source text fits the sound. The psalmist begs God to "defend my cause against an ungodly people," then prays, "Send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy mountain." That holy hill may be the clearest key to the EP's title.

"Smile Now" drops into a groovy, funky pocket loaded with West Coast hardcore vibes. For a band born in car club culture, the title can't help but call up "Smile Now, Cry Later," the twin theater masks that have decorated Chicano art and tattoo work for generations. Toward the end, the song gallops into a thrash metal groove, proof that xDOULOSx are far more dynamic than one might assume.

Then "Where There's Death the Vultures Feast" closes things out as an almighty, insane crossover anthem. At 5:11, the track fills a third of the EP's runtime, and the intensity never lets up. The title comes from Matthew 24:28, "Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather," where Christ tells His disciples His return will be as unmistakable as lightning. For a band whose last record drew from the same chapter, the callback lands.

Vocalist Ed Boi has named Sleeping Giant as a major influence, and that heritage of worship in the pit runs all through HOLY. Fans of The Crucified and No Innocent Victim will find plenty to love here, and the crossover swing of the closer reaches back to the days when Suicidal Tendencies and Excel turned Venice into a hotbed. xDOULOSx carry both traditions with total conviction.

Holy means set apart, and HOLY sounds like a band that knows exactly who it belongs to. Every chant and breakdown points past the pit toward the holy hill. Fans of Christian hardcore need to hear this one right now. It’s one of the best of the year.