This is the first time I have done a third review for an artist and all this year. Since the beginning of 2025, I have gotten rather acquainted with Refiner,Christopher Adam’s solo industrial metalcore project hailing from Nanaimo, British Columbia. For this outing, we have an album’s worth of music brought to us by Rottweiler Records, purveyors of Extreme Christian metal. This full length album is the blending of the two previous EPs, an additional two tracks of material, instrumental versions of the songs, and a couple of remixes.

Refiner makes it clear they carry a message in their music and it is joyfully optimistic and hopeful. Christopher sprinkles scripture throughout the songs and shares one of the most optimistic faith statements I’ve heard in a while: God does not make mistakes. In a genre that hurting souls gravitate toward, they will find healing and acceptance here.

I stand by my earlier statements as to Refiner’s refreshing take on metalcore with its industrial trappings and experimental spirit. This is probably more for the folks that enjoy industrial more than metalcore, as long as you don’t mind blackened vocals. There is the chop and stop feel to the songs, but the synth pads ease the harshness and industrial sounds like the radar sound in “Return to Dust” stimulates beyond the vanilla metalcore. Besides the rhythmic permutations of the ‘core sound, there are some enjoyable guitar riffs like “Not The End” and “upside_uʍop” which have a hard articulation that feels inorganic, adding to the industrial feel.

The album flows rather well through the six tracks that form the core release, pun totally intended! The album starts with a field recording of birds and a train that plows into Refiner’s wheelhouse of “Not The End” and “upside_uʍop,” before turning towards their anthemic “Return To Dust” with its melodic chorus. The new song, “Selfish Days,” takes a mellower turn with its sustained chords, clean vocals and hard rock vibe and then flows rather well to the melancholic metal-meet-ambient track “Mistake.” On its own, this should be marketed as an EP, however, there are instrumental tracks that double the length, making the full length label more appropriate. For the CD release, there are two alternate versions that may be of interest. I particularly like the “Mistake” remix with its electronic, almost 8-bit, feel.

I think that my main beef with this release is that musically you get one new song (with instrumental) and two remixed songs compared to the previous two EPs. I guess there isn’t anything wrong with this approach as it worked well for Drottnar’s “Monolith” and Anberlin’s “Vega,” but “Refiner” feels rather light in the amount of material comparatively. Other spots that bothered me were missed opportunities to use dynamics. It felt loud where the vocals sounded low in the mix making the human aspect somewhat diminished. The new song “Selfish Days” felt jarring compared to the previous tracks where musical development or a softer dynamic space would have aided in the delivery of the clean vocals.

I think that there are some good ideas here and if you were interested before but didn’t get the two previous EPs, you are in luck with this release. I do like this as a complete package and showcases Refiner’s unique style, which he might try coining it as a subgenre (Moosecore anyone?). That said, I feel like there is much filler with the instrumentals and remixes that those looking for an album’s worth of original material will be disappointed. But if you tell yourself it’s an EP, you might be all right. This would be for fans out there looking for something industrial and independent with metalcore leanings.

Rating: 7.5/10

Written by Sean Bailey

Tracklist
1 – All Aboard
2 – Not The End
3 – upside_uʍop
4 – Return To Dust
5 – Selfish Days
6 – Mistake
7 – All Aboard (Instrumental)
8 – Not The End (Instrumental)
9 – upside_uʍop (Instrumental)
10 – Return To Dust (Instrumental)
11 – Selfish Days (Instrumental)
12 – Mistake (Instrumental)
13 – Return To Dust (Radio Edit)
14 – God Doesn’t Make Mistakes (Mistake Remix)

Refiner is:
Christopher Adam – everything

Release Date: September 26, 2025

Record Label: Rottweiler Records

Discography:
Firewalker – EP (2022)
Return to Dust – EP (2025) [review]
Mistake – EP (2025) [review]
Refiner (2025)

Social Media: Facebook | Instagram | Spotify | Bandcamp (Rottweiler) | Bandcamp (Firewalker)

Video for Mistake