Review by Greg on July 8, 2023.

I absolutely admired the 2018 debut by Quasarborn, the band risen from the ashes of promising Serbian thrashers Space Eater. The Odyssey to Room 101 had the potential to breed a classic sequel, the guys just needed to keep assuming whichever substance gave them the inspiration for the last two LPs, possibly also rendering the overall songwriting a little more focused and concise. But you know, sometimes changing the little details can end up being the most difficult task...

Enter, two years later, A Pill Hard to Swallow, Quasarborn's highly anticipated (by me) sophomore.

If I'm not mistaken, I remember once stumbling upon a YouTube user comparing somehow Space Eater to Bullet for My Valentine, being then insulted to death. What does that have to do with anything? Well, I'm afraid he might have been someone commenting from the future, because it's admittedly harder to confute him now. Tell me the title-track doesn't sound like them, removing the solo and dialing down the drumming a bit. Don't you believe it? Okay then, the chorus on 'Identity Catharsis' is almost Escape the Fate territory. Yeah, I told you I was serious. While I can't say I don't like either respective frontmen's timbre, and it's not a secret that Matković's vocals always had a certain metalcore character to them, you can understand my perplexity. Let's put it this way: I never was the biggest fan of his vocal work (and the second track mentioned shows he's still quarreling with high notes, every so often), but I bore him on his previous efforts since the music more than made up for it. Now it's a bit more difficult.

As you may have guessed, changes happened, and not in a small number. For a sad note, blast-beats are completely absent – except for a brief stint in the closer that goes near – to begin, making Danilović's performance regrettably less insane than he's capable of. Thrash, thankfully, didn't follow them, but is mainly confined to the opener 'Mamula' (exactly the kind of song these Serbians nail so effortlessly, *almost* as good as Space Eater's 'Unjagged') and the single 'Bastion', crowned with an undeniably catchy double chorus. The other single 'Atlas' (who didn't 'Rise!' this time), instead, sounds so much like a Metallica song, possibly off Hardwired... to Self-Destruct, and along with 'Nothing' – its chorus being pretty much modern Testament stuff – brings a dose of the old guards as well.

From 'Stalemate with Suicide' onward, however, a new influence paves its way. As if the mention of two commercial metalcore band wasn't enough, you better brace yourself as I can't help but hear a lot of Avenged Sevenfold in the last three songs (interlude aside). The second verse on said track, with that clean vocals/fast background contrast, and especially the horns in the middle section are very The Stage-like ('Fermi Paradox' meets 'Sunny Disposition', if you care). The song itself is a bit overlong, but with an intense finale, with that 'time and time again' reprise, and the usual deep lyrics. 'Clouds' and 'The Humbling' even go as far as incorporating those duets with lower vocals and choirs that are almost an A7X trademark. Hate me all you want, those two tracks were my favourites of the album, and I guess they'll be enough while I still wait for a successor to the aforementioned 2016 opus. By then, I was so accustomed to the overwhelming catchiness that I was almost disappointed by the lack of a double chorus at the end, but the fade-out is even more beautiful than I hoped for.

I find myself in a difficult position, right now. If there was a fault I could find on The Odyssey to Room 101, it's that it needed just some more material that stuck immediately. A Pill Hard to Swallow, on the contrary, is insanely catchier and more than solves that problem, at the price of sacrificing most of the more intricate playing and, ultimately, the band's uniqueness. Still, it will be interesting to see where they'll go now – I'm rather curious about what the new axeman will bring, as well. Couple of skippable tracks apart, A Pill Hard to Swallow has its merits and will be appreciated by newcomers... and by those who still can't get over the fact they still like those bands above mentioned (read: 'Atlas', 'Clouds' and 'The Humbling' found a way in my car playlist soon after my first spin).

Rating: 7.4 out of 10