Album Review: Walls of Jericho – System Error: Humanity (Napalm Records)

Metalcore legends Walls of Jericho return with their first album in a decade. It’s ‘System Error: Humanity’, and it is out on the 13th of November 2026 via Napalm Records.

Hell freaking yeah! We have a new Walls of Jericho album, and it goes freaking hard! Time away hasn’t dented their intensity in the slightest. In fact, they’re sounding more aggressive than ever, leaning into their no-frills old-school metalcore and hardcore sound with a certain amount of glee.

They’ve got nothing to prove but that just means this an album that feels low pressure. Walls of Jericho felt like they had something to say, something to contribute to music, and the result is an album that will please both old and new fans. All you need is a proclivity for intense and infectious metalcore and hardcore heaviness, and you’ll love this. Fifteen tracks that come with tons of metallised potency, tons of two-step vibrancy, tons of head banging inducing groove, and tons of chest beating, foot-stomping, and horn-throwing intensity, It’s a banger of a record, simple as that.

It’s quite incredible just how fast things fly by, and how quickly Walls of Jericho establish that this isn’t just an attempt to repeat or recapture old glories. True Til’ Death, Beginning, The Flame, The Ascent… it’s track after track of raucous noise. Where the riffs come thick and fast (a trio of guitarists will do that), the drumming adds volatility, the bass hooks are razor sharp, and the vocals come laced with venomous power.

Candace Buckingham is on top form here, spitting lyrical fire and snarling with eye-widening hostility. I particularly love it when we get gang vocals though and Walls of Jericho are pretty liberal with them throughout the album.

The album features plenty of guests too, and an early highlight is Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe, who adds his scorching voice to the vitriolic and crunchy Broken Mouths Can’t Speak. Later, Guy Kozowyk of The Red Chord makes an appearance on the stomping Humanity, and on A Brighter Fire, Candace’s daughter, Patsy Puopolo guests alongside Matthew Ruby. The latter track is both the longest track, by some distance, and the most melodic. Albeit, melody twisted by metallised power, transforming it into something hardier and heavier.

The middle part of the album features some of my favourite tracks though. With the likes of Untouchable, Rise, Agency, Unchained, and The End Before delivering short, sharp, and spicy blasts of hardcore-infused anthemic aggression. These are the kind of songs that make you sit up straight and pay attention to what is being said, although live, I suspect they might encourage a different kind of focus.

Though a manic two-step inducing hardcore heavy effort like Borrowed Ground is just as likely to cause carnage in the pit.

Capping off a really wonderful listening experience is the garish Last Judgment, a track that varies up the tempo in interesting ways, and the chuggy groove of The Reckoning, a wild head banger to end things on a high. Walls of Jericho are back, and the world is that little bit brighter with their brand of heavy music in it.

Walls of Jericho – System Error: Humanity Track Listing:

1. True Til’ Death
2. Beginning
3. The Flame
4. The Ascent
5. Broken Mouths Can’t Speak (feat. Randy Blythe)
6. Untouchable
7. Rise
8. Agency
9. Unchained
10. The End Before
11. Humanity (feat. Guy Kozowyk)
12. Borrowed Ground
13. Last Judgement
14. A Brighter Fire (feat. Patsy Puopolo & Matthew Ruby)
15. The Reckoning

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