SONG REVIEW: The Lion & The Sloth - "The House that Jack Built"

The Heavier Side of Post-Hardcore With The Lion & The Sloth’s single, "The House that Jack Built"

by Jesse Smith

Coming out of the Pacific Northwest is an up and coming post hardcore called “The Lion & The Sloth”. Being active since 2020, the group already has forward momentum moving from their last releases. Releasing their first EP “Birds eating Birds” in 2020 and also “Birds Eating B-sides” which was a collection of other songs they had during the writing process of the EP that didn’t make it on the initial release. If that was the plan from the beginning or not, seeing that really intrigued me. Since we are in the Streaming era of music, more consistent content is better and releasing b-side tracks to follow an EP is brilliant. With that being said, after releasing what really is a full album’s worth of songs, The Lion & The Sloth are now back on a brand new cycle in 2023. We will be looking at their newest single titled “The House That Jack Built”, a unique and high energy track that is sure to put some pep in your step. 

This track as well as the last single they released titled “Fascia” are relatively quick listens, both coming in under 2:30 mins. But don’t let that take your attention away from the quality of this song, it is high energy from the start and continues to hold your attention until the end. We here at GKE have been seeing a lot of Post Hardcore bands that resemble early 2000’s bands like The Fall Of Troy recently, but I have to say The Lion & The Sloth are definitely the most energetic and heaviest bands that fall in this category. You will get that vibe from literally the opening seconds where the vocalist starts off with a low guttural scream into a higher war cry that kicks off the music. Now, heaviness is not just decided on how low your guitars are tuned, how slow your breakdowns are or how edgy your lyrics are. This band takes many of the post hardcore staples like a melodic guitar that heightens the vocal patterns and the overall moodiness that falls closer to emo music than metal. Still, this song has a way of feeling more aggressive and less on the emo side. While there are a few lines with singing, the highlight for me is the first initial drop that sets the tone for the rest of the song. You can really hear the melody the guitarist set as well as the bass guitar following not just the rhythm but the melody as well! 

Overall, this is a homerun track. Setting themselves apart from the bands that fall into the swancore section of Post Hardcore and the bands that fall more in the emo side of the genre. The Lion & The Sloth have a true grasp on who they are as a band and I can’t wait to see what they have planned for the next release! The band has been playing all around the Northwest, so if you see their name on a flier, get there early and check them out!