Becoming Sons – Refined by the Flames (ep) – The Metal Resource

13 March, 2026 John Jackson 0 Comments 1 category

Becoming Sons came together in a church room in San Antonio, Texas as a group to play for their worship team. Over time, their sound grew heavier, eventually mixing melodic, groove, thrash, and metalcore to form what they band calls “metalpraisecore”. Add in various lineup changes and the band has found some success, including the number one Loud song on the Christian Music Weekly Loud/Metal Charts for 16 straight weeks with “Illuminate”. The band’s name comes from Romans 8:12-14, which focuses on living in the Spirit and becoming Sons of God by dying to the flesh. The band recently signed with Resurrection Records and partnered with Roxx Records for distribution of the ep, Refined by the Flames, which features the song “Hidden Truth which debuted at #2 on the Christian Music Weekly Loud/Metal chart and has reached #1.

I tend to have issues with intro tracks that really don’t add anything to an album and especially on an ep which is already short to start with. Becoming Sons though have decided an intro track was the thing to do on Refined by the Flames, so here we are. It’s not a bad track, I just think it would have been better as part of the first real song if that’s what they wanted to do <end of rant, apologies>. “Overcomer” is the first real track and opens up with some of what I would call typical metalcore audio tricks, this time with the drums and guitars sounding like they were recorded in a small metal building before switching into regular. Harsh, guttural vocals open up the track then are joined almost as if on queue by clean higher register vocals. By now we’ve all heard this before and much of the track does have a familiar feel to it. The clean vocals almost feel in places as if they were done later as an afterthought as they sound a bit out of place. Granted that may be just some of the production, mixing but it does affect the listening experience. I do think the trading off of clean and harsh vocals works really well in some cases, but on this track, they just don’t seem to fit together. Drums really strike me in the mix and Roger Stack is really pounding them out, keeping the song moving.

More audio tricks open up “Dead Church” which has a really dark feel to the opening before clean vocals take over the initial verse sections eventually joined by the harsh vocals. In contrast to the previous track the trade off in vocals works well here, which makes me wonder if I’m biased toward clean then harsh versus harsh then clean. The harsh vocals here serve as a counterpoint. The song picks up pace nicely when it’s time for the guitar solo and that works well within the song.

“Hidden Truth” is on the ep twice once in long form and once as the “radio edit” and it does have the feel of being the spotlight song for the ep. I prefer the radio edit version as the intro section is largely what is different, and it opens up with feedback and a scream, which is usually a good move and Becoming Sons employ that well here. Again, clean vocals start and trade off with the harsh vocals and the two fit well. The rhythm section has a heavy pounding groove and the mostly clean chorus, which is catchy as well, is where one can see the “metalpraisecore” of the band coming through. The album/ep version of the song has a longer guitar intro using the riff found in the parts of the verse sections and it just doesn’t have the same power as the feedback and scream intro of the radio edit.

“Dirge” is a nice quiet, calm interlude with clean guitars that similar to the intro to the ep seems almost out of place. “Undone” is right after and has a nice heavy riff and more pounding drums and similar to “Overcomer” starts out with the harsh vocals before the clean vocals come in and it also feels forced. Not sure why, but in these two sons the clean vocals bother me. “Refined by the Flames” is next and has a clean guitar opening and a funky bass line that appears through the track, which adds some good depth to the song. Definitely not expected but it works. Here again the clean vocals start first before the harsh vocals come in and the song is so much stronger than when the vocals are reversed. Add in some good layered guitar parts and the bass work from Brian Derby and it’s another strong track. “Awakened” has more strong bass work and drums in the opening and the feedback I love so much as well as starting out with clean vocals, which by now you know I’m biased toward, and I do like this track as well. I do think the more guttural growled vocals in this song might be a little much but still another strong track.

Refined by the Flames is one of those releases that took me a few listens to appreciate and I think it’s largely because of how much I disliked the songs where the harsh vocals were countered by clean vocals in the chorus sections. I stand by that though and no matter how many times I listen, I just can’t get into those songs. So keep that in mind for this review. This is what I would label “traditional” metalcore of which I am not the biggest fan. There is no new ground being broken here but there are some really good tracks like the radio edit of “Hidden Truth”, so check it out.

Rating: 7/10

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