# The Language of Injury

The Language of Injury is the debut studio album by British metalcore band Ithaca, released on 1 February 2019. The band began working on the album in 2016 and recorded it with Joe Clayton at Nø Studio in Manchester in May 2017, amidst a period of personal turmoil for its members. Categorized as a metalcore album alongside mathcore, melodic hardcore, post-hardcore, post-metal, and screamo, its songs are thematically based around communication and things left unsaid. The album was Ithaca's final release with bassist Drew Haycock.
After almost two years of delays, The Language of Injury was released through Holy Roar Records to critical praise. It was listed as one of the best albums of 2019 by Kerrang!, Metal Hammer and Revolver. To promote the album, Ithaca toured the United Kingdom and Europe as both a headliner and supporting act and performed at the 2019 edition of the ArcTanGent festival.

## Background and recording

Ithaca began working on The Language of Injury in 2016. "New Covenant" was the first song written for the album. According to vocalist Djamila Boden Azzouz, the band wrote and recorded the album "during a time of immense pain and suffering" for Ithaca, particularly for her and guitarist Sam Chetan-Welsh. "Basically everything that could go wrong, went wrong [...] All that really big transitional life stuff chose to happen in that space of time", she told Kerrang! in 2019. Azzouz wrote the album's lyrics whilst staying in a village outside of Brighton, amidst the collapse of a toxic relationship. In an interview with Astral Noize, Azzouz said that she hoped to self reflect whilst staying there, but instead "[tore] myself apart bit by bit, [...] I was alone with my thoughts all the time and it was mental torture." Personal issues, alongside the band's perfectionism, protracted their writing process.
Ithaca recorded The Language of Injury in the span of five or six days with Joe Clayton at Nø Studio in Manchester in May 2017. Chetan-Welsh's mother died a month before recording commenced, following a year-long battle with a brain tumour; he subsequently "[tried] to use [recording] as a focus point" to get through his grief. Following its completion, Ithaca delayed the album due to their personal struggles, and bassist Drew Haycock was replaced by Red Sismey.

## Composition and lyrics

The Language of Injury has been described as metalcore, mathcore, melodic hardcore, post-hardcore, post-metal, and screamo. Critics also highlighted elements from noise rock, doom metal, crust punk and black metal. Eli Enis of Kerrang! described the album as both hardcore-identified yet "vast and genreless". It displays a dissonant, suspenseful sound, employing technical guitar riffs and breakdowns. According to Zoe Camp of Bandcamp Daily, it features "winding, amorphous arrangements" that offer "blissful, shoegaze-y respite [...] only to drop us back into hell a few agonizing moments later." Kim Kelly of Pitchfork found the album both dynamic and unpredictable and viewed its "soft-to-loud, pretty-to-harsh" setups—seen notably on "Gilt" and "Better Abuse"—typical of "melodic metalcore". The album's title track features progressive metal time signature changes, whilst "Secretspace" and "Gilt" place "shimmering post-rock chords atop muscular, syncopated grooves". Camp compared the "blackened, proggy post-metal" of "Clsr." and "Slow Negative Order" to Deafheaven and the Ocean. Azzouz uses screamed vocals and clean singing; vocal harmonies also appear throughout the album's tracks.
Thematically, the album is based around communication or lack thereof, and things left unsaid. Gregory Adams of Revolver called Azzouz's lyrics "unabashedly personal". Although she and Ithaca did not go into writing with a particular concept in mind, Azzouz felt that the album represented a "snapshot" of her life and the emotions she was feeling at the time. "New Covenant" is "letting go of the past and starting again". "Impulse Crush" is about realising "you wasted years trying to help someone who doesn't want to help themselves, and that they've damaged you in the process". Azzouz said that "Secretspace" is about her "looking back and realising that memories I cherish are ultimately a lie". "Slow Negative Order" is about "rebirth and revenge". Inspired by the collaborative Cult of Luna and Julie Christmas album Mariner (2016) and Kate Bush, it was the first Ithaca song where Azzouz used clean singing. Following the instrumental interlude "(No Translation)", the album's title track discusses the value of words and what is, and isn't, said. "Clsr." concerns the aftermath of betrayal, whilst "Gilt" is about "mutual destruction". "Better Abuse" is about being unable to remove oneself from the source of their suffering. Azzouz said that Ithaca "didn't want [the album] to finish on a high note or a resolution or happy ending, because there isn't one".

## Release and promotion

The Language of Injury would not see a release for almost two years. Chetan-Welsh said that for "various reasons", it "came out much later that [Ithaca] wanted [it to]". On 29 October 2018, the band announced the album and released its title track as the lead single. After premiering the song on Decibel three days prior, they released "Slow Negative Order" as the second single on 1 December 2018. On 14 January 2019, the band premiered a music video for "Impulse Crush" through Kerrang!. The album was released through Holy Roar Records on 1 February 2019. Ithaca celebrated the album's release with a concert at the Old Blue Last in London, where they performed to a crowd of 150 people. The band were supported by Nihility and Calligram. John Longbotton of Kerrang! described Ithaca's performance as "a beautiful chaos", whilst Remfry Dedman of Metal Hammer noted its "mood [...] of celebration"; balloons and glitter were thrown around the venue, and Justine Jones of Employed to Serve joined the band onstage during their performances of "Ashes" and "Youth vs Wisdom".
In March and April 2019, the band performed a mixture of headlining and supporting shows across the United Kingdom, including a performance with Holy Roar labelmates Svalbard at the Boston Music Room in London, before embarking on a co-headlining tour with Leeched between 28 May and 2 June. On 19 July 2019, Ithaca supported Bleeding Through in London at their first UK show in six years. In August, Ithaca performed at the ArcTanGent festival. In November 2019, they toured the United Kingdom again, supporting Jamie Lenman. In February and March 2020, Ithaca toured Europe supporting Big Thief. The band were in Copenhagen when Denmark enacted lockdown measures against the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing them to cancel the remaining tour dates and return to the United Kingdom.

## Critical reception

Professional ratings :
| Review scores ||
| Source | Rating |
| Kerrang! | |
| Metal Hammer UK | |
| Metal Hammer Germany | 6/7 |
| Ondarock [it] | 7/10 |
| Ox-Fanzine | |
| Pitchfork | 7.0/10 |
The Language of Injury was released to critical praise. Matt Mills of Metal Hammer hailed the album as "an unmitigated triumph" that "already feels destined to go down as one of 2019's most promising debuts". Similarly, Andrew Sacher of BrooklynVegan considered it "one of the finest 2019 debuts of its kind" for its mix of "nostalgia for the turn of the millennium and a strong embrace of the present". Bandcamp Daily selected it as their "Album of the Day", with Zoe Camp calling it "a gorgeous, gargantuan record that flips hardcore sentimentalism on its head—not for the sake of novelty, but of necessity."
Ondarock's Alessandro Mattedi highlighted the album's "technical and explosive riffing" and the performances of Haycock and drummer James Lewis, but found Azzouz "almost intangible" and "muffled" by its poor mixing and production. Kelly, who viewed Azzouz's vocals to be one of Ithaca's "strongest assets", similarly felt that the production allowed her to get "unintentionally buried under the sound and the fury". Although he felt that the band had "one or two ideas" and "an enormously varied singer", Julius Lench of Ox-Fanzine found the album "dull" and criticized its overuse of breakdowns.
The Language of Injury appeared on the end-of year albums lists for 2019 by Kerrang!, Metal Hammer and Revolver, whom respectively ranked it at number 49, number 37 and number 20. Kez Whelan of The Quietus ranked the album at number 13 on his list of the "Top Metal Albums Of 2019", whilst Consequence listed it as one of the year's "Top 10 Underground Metal Albums".

## Track listing

All tracks are written by Ithaca.

## Personnel

Adapted from liner notes.

## Release history

Release history and formats for The Language of Injury :
| Region | Date | Format | Label | Catalog # | Ref. |
| Various | 1 February 2019 | CDLPDD | Holy Roar | HRR276 | |
| Various | May 2021 | LP | Hassle | HOFF372LP | |