REVIEW: Tallah - Primeval: Obsession // Detachment
Changes, evolutions, switch-ups, and improvements
42:08 // September 5, 2025 // Earache Records
I can’t be the only one who walked into Tallah’s 3rd album with an equal amount of excitement and trepidation, right? Following the utter whirlwind that was The Generation of Danger, the Pennsylvania-based nu-metalcore band went through several shake-ups, including the firing of their DJ due to grooming allegations, and their drummer, Max Portnoy, moving from drums to bass, with Joel McDonald taking over the kit. And then, to add onto all of that chaos, Primeval: Obsession // Detachment’s first single, “What We Know”, basically rewrote all our expectations for what Tallah’s third album would be, showcasing a far more melodic direction compared to the blitzkrieg chaos of their previous works.
But, if there’s one thing that Tallah thrives in, its odd circumstances and changes. Primeval is yet another triumph for the band, which takes their sound in a different direction than before, but does so expertly, and without completely sacrificing the magic that made Tallah who they are.
As is customary for the band, Primeval is a concept album, this time detailing two women trapped on an alien planet, forced into action by a certain force. Quite the shift from a man killing his abusive mother or a mad scientist getting revenge on a corporation, and the tracklist reflects that expanded ambition perfectly. Primevalsports a mirrored tracklist, with the titles mirroring each other, both in name and in sound and lyrics. That alone is a great indicator of the new strides Tallah’s taking, but it only scratches the surface of what the band have set out to do.
Musically, several things stand out from the background info alone. The album was recorded live, with no click track, and with Justin Bonitz recording all of his vocals in a single take, right after recovering from pneumonia (can we officially call him the most insane vocalist in metalcore at this point?). And yet, somehow, the entire album is tight and locked in all the way through. Joel McDonald is a perfect replacement for Portnoy, bringing the same complex technical drumming, and allowing Portnoy to show that he’s apparently a prodigy at multipleinstruments, because of course he is. The entire album is littered with lip-smackingly delicious slap bass riffs and unique chords that perfectly compliment the manic drumming.
And, of course, no discussion of Tallah would be complete without discussion of frontman Justin Bonitz, and it’s here that we can truly discuss the shift towards melody that dominates the album. Justin once again utterly dazzles at his ability to shift between singing and manic screaming, but what sets his performance here apart from the rest of Tallah’s discography is the increased amount of focus on clean singing. In fact, if Matriphagywas grindhouse grime, and TGOD was schizophrenic chaos, Primeval sees Tallah at their most “restrained”, with far more songs devoted to Justin’s cleans, and even the inclusion of acoustic and orchestral passages to compliment the usual nu-metal insanity.
It should say a lot about the band’s improvement and overall new directions that I’ve gotten this far without mentioning any of the specific tracks. So, to brush through the highlights, “What We Know” features a glorious bit of nu-metal bounce, “Augmented” and “A Primeval Detachment” are probably the best tracks for anyone missing the TGOD or Matriphagy sounds (“Detachment” especially is a balls-to-the-wall rager), and “_la|cuna” and “As Fate Undoes” are pure proof that Tallah can own this melodic shift without any issues. But, really, the entire album is a front-to-back blast, even if I do miss some of the more unrestrained chaos on Tallah’s previous albums.
Primeval : Obsession // Detachment is easily Tallah’s most ambitious album to date, but it’s also their tightest and most fluid album at the same time. Even if it’s more restrained than Matriphagy or Generation of Danger, it’s still an unmitigated triumph that shows how willing Tallah are to experiment with their formula and push new ground. Max Portnoy described this album as Tallah “finding their voice”, and it’s hard to disagree. This album proves that Tallah are nowhere near out of creative juice, and it’s impossible to not be stoked for the future directions they’ll take going forward.
9/10