The bitter pill about The Bitter Pill is… they fucking rock—most of the time. This heavy-ass band from Ireland delivers a brutal yet exhilarating ride with their latest album, Predator Emulating Prey. It’s an album packed with energy, aggression, and a sense of chaos that feels both unpredictable and addicting. However, while they bring the heat in most places, a few missteps hold it back from being truly great.
Let’s get the bad out of the way first. Some tracks on this album suffer from bloat—not necessarily in a way that ruins the experience, but enough to drag certain moments down. There are some killer ideas scattered throughout, but a handful of songs feel like they stretch those ideas a little too thin, reusing riffs that overstay their welcome rather than evolving them into something more dynamic. Instead of building tension, these moments sometimes feel like a holding pattern, waiting for the next burst of energy.
But when The Bitter Pill is good? They are amazing. This band thrives in their more tight and concise moments, delivering short bursts of unrelenting power that hit like a sledgehammer. Their high-energy playing is packed with sick, chugging riffs, punchy drums, and vocals that sound like pure rage distilled into sound waves. The sheer intensity they bring to their best songs makes you forget the album’s slower moments entirely.
Sure, they borrow from a lot of other bands in the genre, but the difference is they make it sound so damn good. Instead of feeling like a straight copy-paste of influences, they take the best elements of their inspirations and weaponize them into something fresh and devastating. You’ll hear echoes of classic hardcore, sludge, and metalcore influences, but with a rawness that makes it feel uniquely theirs.
Overall, Predator Emulating Prey is an album with some rough edges, but when it hits, it hits hard. The Bitter Pill proves they have the potential to go toe-to-toe with the heavyweights of the genre—they just need to trim the fat and lean into what they do best: relentless, no-holds-barred chaos.
RATING: 7.5/10
NOTIABLE TRACKS:
Predator Emulating Prey
In Your Nature
Face The Facts