After a monster year in 20205, blackened/symphonic deathcore has been a little quieter in 2026. There have been gobs of singles and digital EPs, but the full-length albums have been noticeably absent (though I’m sure I’ve missed some). The only one I currently have in my possible year-end playlist is France’s Kheos and their strangely segmented Oxymore album.
But here is Australia’s A Night In Texas (I’d love for someone to comment on the band’s name origins), with their 4th album, The Darkest Side of Humanity, to rectify the situation. Surprisingly, I’m not overly familiar with the band, only having first heard them on 2024’s Digital Apocalypse, but in going back and checking out the band’s first 2 efforts, 2015’s God Delusion and 2017’s Global Slaughter, I see that they’ve been pretty consistent with their sound: technical deathcore with some symphonic elements scattered generously around.
Now, when I say blackened or symphonic deathcore, I don’t mean a full-on Lorna Shore, Shadow of Intent, or Worm Shepherd sound. It’s close, but the band’s primary sound is firmly rooted in the band’s thriving Australian deathcore scene (To the Grave, Thy Art is Murder, etc.), but adds symphonic elements at times. But when they do lean into the more epic/dramatic sounds, which seems like tangibly more than prior releases, it hits pretty hard, as they are delivered/composed by none other than Francesco Ferrini (Fleshgod Apocalypse), so I’d expect nothing less.
This increased orchestral and choral presence is used well to enhance moments in songs, rather than being present all the time, but when they do show up, they are super effective. It makes already stout tracks like “Fed to Death” the standout “Metastatic Misery”, ‘The Infinite Maw” (where Ryan Vail of Larcenia Roe helps out), or the closing killer title track pretty fucking epic. At times, I’m reminded of when Bonecarver’s sound changed on Carnage Funeral (in particular, the start of “Metastatic Misery” recalls “Morgue Desecrator” from that album).
But there is plenty of straight-up brutal, brutal deathcore for the Crown Magnetar folks, like “Rot From Within” or “A Primal Conditioning”, where the orchestration is a little less present or more understated, if still there (I mean, why would you hire Ferrini and not use him at least a little?). The only track that’s a bit of an outlier is “When the Sun Burns Out”, a moody sort of ballad with clean vocals that, while going for Whitechapel’s The Valley/Kin sound, doesn’t quite work for me.
The band’s own guitarist, Cory Judd, produced and engineered the album, as he has on past albums, and it sounds great, making the entire effort one of the better examples of the genre in 2026, though right now it doesn’t have much competition.
