“TikTok deathcore.” Two words guaranteed to make trve metalheads shudder inside their Jørn-adorned battle jackets. It’s also a term that could apply to a vast swathe of newer deathcore acts; each chasing the viral glory of Will Ramos reaction videos through near-endless vertical content. Whether it’s hyper-edited lyric clips, 0–1 riff flexes, or Olympic-level vocal tryouts to see who can cough up the most subhuman gurgle before the inevitable, bass-bloated breakdown hits, these bands seemingly spend as much time on social media marketing as they do on music. 1 Enter Sweden’s Bite Down, who’ve ridden this wave to a respectable level of buzz across a steady drip-feed of singles and EPs, with their debut, Violent Playground. The album allegedly explores the “contradictions of modern life,” which is critics’ shorthand for “trust us, there’s a concept here.” Can these social-media-savvy Swedes deliver a cohesive work of art? Or is this more fodder for the algorithm gods?
For the brand of ultra-modern nü-deathcore they play, Bite Down clearly know what they’re doing. Violent Playground is largely made up of short, 2–3 minute bludgeon-fests that deploy every tool in the contemporary heavy music arsenal to maximize mosh appeal. These are straightforward songs built on simple core riffs and stacked with multiple breakdowns, all pushed to their absolute limit and enhanced by smart production choices. Subtle synths and electronic textures thicken the riffs, while bass drops and vocal layering ensure that every breakdown lands with maximum violence. The band blends the nü-metal-tinged bleeps, bloops, and Digitech whammy abuse of Darko US with the over-the-top brutality of Dealer, delivering it all with the unapologetic ignorance of stylistic forebearers Emmure. For the most part, this results in an effective—if predictable—modern core assault, though it isn’t without its missteps.
Violent Playground is a short, nine-track release, and on roughly half of those songs, Bite Down are firing on all cylinders. Tracks like “Self Inflicted,” “Bury You,” “Paralythe,” and “Bound to Nothing” highlight the band’s knack for crafting vicious, crowd-ready violence, hurtling between kill riffs and breakdowns under the guidance of vocalist Hampus Ströberg’s venomous delivery and misanthropic lyrics. Unfortunately, these highlights are offset by several tracks that lean more heavily into hip-hop influences, disrupting the album’s momentum. The title track detours into a brief rap verse before circling back to a final breakdown, while “Deadweight” spends much of its runtime riding a trap-style instrumental alongside a rap feature. These moments aren’t disastrously executed—“Wastage,” in particular, effectively uses a restrained hip-hop intro before fully kicking in, but they’re less compelling and feel out of place on such a concise tracklist.
The core issue with Violent Playground is that it doesn’t quite register as a fully realized album. With the inclusion of the interlude “Exit Out,” Bite Down are left with only eight full songs, two of which are partially sidelined by less engaging rap sections. On a record that barely cracks the 20-minute mark, this has a noticeable impact, making the release feel more like a slightly beefed-up EP than a cohesive full-length. Combined with the lack of a clear flow or overarching thematic thread, the album falls short of elevating its strongest moments. The standout tracks are undeniably effective, but they aren’t enhanced by the context surrounding them, and that’s ultimately a missed opportunity.
On Violent Playground, Bite Down show that they’re plenty capable of making effective and devastating nü-deathcore bangers, but not of making a cohesive album. The standout tracks here (“Bury You, “Paralythe,” and “Bound by Nothing”) hit hard enough to justify the buzz and will almost certainly thrive in isolation, primed for gym playlists, breakdown compilations, and bite-sized algorithm fodder, but I’d be hard-pressed to revisit the full album instead of just listening to my preferred songs. Bite Down clearly understand how modern heavy music circulates and succeeds online, but until that singles-first mentality is translated into a more holistic artistic vision, this debut feels less like a complete album and more like a well-executed content drop for the feed.
Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 160 kb/s mp3
Label: Prime Collective
Websites: bitedownmusic.com| facebook.com/bitedownband
Releases Worldwide: January 9th, 2026
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