Album Review: Pincer+ – Who Are You When No One’s Around (Greyscale Records)

Digging into themes of isolation, guilt, anger and that space between feeling everything and feeling nothing, Pincer+’s upcoming album, ‘Who Are You When No One’s Around’ is about what’s left when the noise stops and you’re stuck with yourself. The album will be released on December 12th, 2025.

Back with focused aggression, intensity, and passion, Pincer+’s evolution hasn’t come easy, but as 2025 draws to a close, the modern genre-bending metallised unit aim to ensure it goes out with a bang. Setting up a 2026 which, if this album is anything to go on, could be their biggest year to date.

All because what’s on offer here is appealing and to different crowds in the heavy sphere. Daringly, there’s a bit of something for everyone here, with the one guarantee that each and every track goes hard.

The bar for hard-hitting aggression is set high with the furious sounding Hard 2 Kill. If you have any worries about the album’s heavy credentials, this opener will put them to bed. It’s a really potent start, but what’s really cool about this album is that it doesn’t hang about and in very quick fashion, Pincer+ blaze through a series of absolute bangers. Cold Frame, Concrete Lullaby, Yours to Erase, and Bue Light Overdose. Nothing goes over the three-minute mark here, and each comes with slamming groove, hardcore intensity, flashes of modernised nu-core, and unmitigated intensity.

It’s e n d l e s s that changes the formula up, not just because it’s the longest track on the album, but because it’s the one with the ‘big’ chorus. The first time the record has proper clean singing. It’s the most accessible track of all being the one most aligned with a traditional metalcore, but trust me, it still goes hard.

Finally there is Defect, which features the immense Jay Webster of UNITYTX, and the title track. With the former being one of the most rage-filled efforts of all (downright dangerous sounding), and the latter showcasing more of that modern metalcore goodness.

Personally, I dig the entire record but if you held a gun to my head, it’s probably going to be Concrete Lullaby as Noah Thomas (sace6) adds a lot and I like the breakdown, that I point at as my favourite. Well, that and Blue Light Overdose, talk about a track likely to cause utter carnage in the live environment. Though I’m certainly a bit impartial to an anthemic effort like e n d l e s s too. Just go listen to the whole thing, damn it!

Pincer+ – Who Are You When No One’s Around Track Listing:

1. Hard 2 Kill
2. Cold Frame
3. Concrete Lullaby (ft. Noah Thomas of sace6)
4. Yours To Erase
5. Blue Light Overdose
6. e n d l e s s
7. Defect (ft. Jay Webster of UNITYTX)
8. Who Are You When No One’s Around

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