If you want to understand what raw, confessional metalcore sounds like, the best songs of Confession are the place to start. This Australian band, built around vocalist Michael Crafter, spent three albums turning grief, addiction, illness, and betrayal into some of the heaviest music to ever come out of the Byron Bay and Brisbane scenes. I’ve spun these records more times than I can count — on headphones during long drives, in the car with the windows down, and blasting through a PA at shows where the pit felt like it might actually collapse the floor. Confession never had the biggest mainstream footprint, but for anyone who grew up on Resist Records and Lifeforce Records releases, this catalog hits like a diary you weren’t supposed to read.
Ranking Confession’s discography means moving across three very different eras: the DIY hardcore snarl of Cancer (2009), the polished, Fredrik Nordström-produced The Long Way Home (2011), and the stripped-down, unclean-vocal assault of Life and Death (2014). Each record has its own sonic fingerprint, and honestly, that’s part of what makes this band worth revisiting. Here are the 20 tracks that best capture that range. You can browse more rankings like this one over in our songs section if you’re building out a heavier listening rotation. Let’s get into it.
March 23
Pulled from 2014’s Life and Death, “March 23” sits deep in the record’s back half, and it’s one of the tracks where producer Dan Castleman’s work at Lambesis Studios in San Diego really shows. The mix is dense and low-tuned, favoring chugging breakdowns over melody, which fits the album’s overall pivot away from clean singing entirely. Lyrically, the track carries the same confessional weight that gives the band its name — Crafter has never been shy about turning specific dates and personal wounds into song titles. On a good pair of headphones, the low end on this one genuinely rattles, which says a lot about how the mastering leaned into weight over polish.
Fuck Cancer
This is arguably Confession’s most talked-about single, released on 12 May 2014 through Channel V ahead of the Life and Death full-length. The title borrows directly from Crafter’s own charity work, and the accompanying video features real cancer survivors and their families rather than any staged narrative. Musically, it’s blunt and unflinching — no bridge softens the blow, no melodic hook tries to make the subject matter easier to swallow. I still think it’s one of the boldest song titles in modern heavy music, precisely because the band refused to dress up the anger in metaphor.
Heartless
Closing out The Long Way Home (2011), “Heartless” is the longest cut on that record and one of the few places where the album’s cleaner vocal layers get real room to breathe. Recorded at Studio Fredman in Gothenburg with Fredrik Nordström — the same producer behind In Flames and early Bring Me the Horizon records — the track has a noticeably more polished, melodic metalcore sheen than anything on the band’s debut. The arrangement builds patiently, saving its heaviest breakdown for the final third, which makes it a genuinely satisfying closer rather than just another wall of riffs.
Die To Live
Also from The Long Way Home, “Die To Live” leans into the record’s Scandinavian-influenced guitar tone, with tremolo-picked riffing that owes an obvious debt to the melodic death metal Nordström built his reputation on. Crafter’s vocal delivery alternates between throat-shredding highs and guttural lows, and the contrast keeps the track from ever feeling one-dimensional. It’s a strong example of how the 2011 lineup — with Dan Brown and Adam Harris still on guitars — balanced aggression with actual songwriting structure.
Asthma Attack
Released 17 August 2011 as the lead single from The Long Way Home, “Asthma Attack” was the song that reintroduced Confession to Australian audiences after their 2009 debut. It’s a tight, urgent cut, and you can hear the Studio Fredman polish immediately in how crisp the drum mix sits against the guitars. The band supported the single with The Long Way Home Tour that October, and live footage from that run shows just how much the track’s start-stop breakdown was built for crowd movement.
Gimme A.D.D.
Following “Asthma Attack” on the tracklist, “Gimme A.D.D.” keeps the pace relentless, with a title that plays on restlessness and burnout in a way that fits Crafter’s confessional lyric style. The guitar work stacks palm-muted verses against wide, open choruses, giving the track real dynamic range instead of just blasting at one volume the whole way through. Meanwhile, the drumming pushes the tempo hard enough that the song barely clears three minutes, which honestly works in its favor — it never overstays its welcome.
The Long Way Home
The title track and closer of the 2011 album, “The Long Way Home” functions almost like a mission statement for that whole era of the band. Coming right after “Heartless,” it caps the record on a heavier, more resolute note, and you can hear the full five-piece lineup — Crafter, Brown, Harris, bassist Tim Anderson, and drummer Shane O’Brien — locking in for one last statement before major lineup changes reshaped the band. If you’re listening on a proper setup, this is a good track to A/B test gear on, since the layered guitars reward detail; our headphones comparison guide is a useful reference if you’re shopping for something that can handle dense metalcore mixes.
Confused/Hopeless
The proper opening track of The Long Way Home, “Confused/Hopeless” wastes no time getting aggressive, and it’s a strong showcase for how much heavier this lineup sounded compared to the 2009 debut. The title alone tells you where Crafter’s headspace was during this writing period, and the vocal performance backs it up with real desperation in the delivery. It’s one of the tracks where Nordström’s production choices — tight low end, minimal reverb — let the raw emotion sit right up front in the mix.
I Created This Horror
This track leans into some of the darkest self-reflection on The Long Way Home, with a title that reads almost like a confession of complicity rather than just victimhood. The interplay between Brown and Harris’s guitars creates a genuinely unsettling atmosphere before the breakdown arrives, and that patience is part of what makes the payoff land. It’s a good example of Confession using dynamics — not just volume — to build dread.
Nearly 30
“Nearly 30” carries an autobiographical weight that fits Crafter’s tendency to write about real milestones and anxieties rather than abstract themes. Musically, it sits comfortably alongside the record’s more melodic moments, with cleaner vocal layering giving the chorus some actual lift. It’s one of the more emotionally direct songs on The Long Way Home, and it holds up as a snapshot of where the band’s frontman was mentally during that writing period.
The True Shine Through
Coming right before “Heartless” in the Long Way Home tracklist, “The True Shine Through” leans further into melody than most of the record, with guitar leads that hint at the more polished direction Nordström brought to the sessions. The pacing here is more measured, giving the vocal performance room to shift between clean and harsh textures without the mix feeling cluttered. It’s an underrated deep cut for anyone who only knows the band through “Asthma Attack.”
Still Breathing
The second track on Life and Death (2014), “Still Breathing” sets the tone for the album’s harder pivot — this record marked the first time Confession fully dropped clean vocals in favor of an all-screamed approach. Recorded with the new lineup of Russell Holland, Lyndsay Antica, Steven French, and Jake Dargaville, the track has a rawer, more unified aggression than anything on the previous two records. Crafter has spoken about not knowing exactly what listeners would think of the shift, but on this track, the commitment to the heavier sound pays off.
Holy War
Featuring Ahren Stringer of The Amity Affliction, “Holy War” is one of Life and Death‘s most talked-about guest spots. Crafter has said in interviews that he brought Stringer in because they’re friends rather than for the name recognition, and that authenticity comes through in how naturally the two vocal styles trade off across the track. The song benefits from that contrast — Stringer’s more melodic edge against Crafter’s unclean delivery — giving it more dynamic range than a lot of the record’s other cuts.
Hollow
Following “Holy War,” “Hollow” keeps Life and Death‘s density high, with a mix that favors low-tuned guitars and minimal ornamentation. It’s one of the tracks where Dan Castleman’s production choices are most obvious — tight, compressed, and built for maximum impact rather than clarity. On a decent pair of earbuds, the breakdown two-thirds through genuinely hits harder than you’d expect from the mix’s relatively short runtime; if your current pair isn’t cutting it for bass-heavy metalcore, our earbuds comparison guide can help you find something better suited to the genre.
Old Blood
“Old Blood” brings in a guest verse from Adrian Fitipaldes, adding another texture to Life and Death‘s guest-heavy back half. The track’s title fits the album’s overall theme of reckoning with the past, and the arrangement leans into slower, more deliberate riffing compared to the record’s faster cuts. It’s a good example of how the 2014 lineup used featured vocalists not as marketing hooks but as genuine collaborators within the songwriting.
51-73
Featuring Joel Birch of The Amity Affliction, “51-73” is one of the heavier, more chaotic tracks on Life and Death. Birch’s guest verse adds a different rhythmic cadence to the track, and the interplay between the two vocalists gives the song a call-and-response energy that stands out on the record. Chart-wise, Life and Death debuted at number 19 on the ARIA Albums chart — a personal best for the band at the time — and tracks like this one, with their recognizable guest features, likely helped push that visibility.
Fear
With a guest appearance from Karl Schubach, “Fear” leans into some of Life and Death‘s most straightforwardly aggressive songwriting. The track doesn’t waste time on atmosphere — it’s built around a direct, riff-forward structure that gets in and out efficiently. It’s not the most complex song on the record, but as a piece of pure heavy-music catharsis, it does exactly what it sets out to do.
The Forgotten
Positioned near the end of Life and Death, “The Forgotten” carries some of the album’s most explicitly emotional lyricism, fitting into the record’s broader themes of grief and loss that run through Crafter’s writing on this era. The instrumentation pulls back slightly compared to the album’s more chaotic cuts, letting the vocal performance carry more of the weight. It’s one of the tracks where the band’s stripped-down, unclean-vocal approach feels most purposeful rather than just heavier for its own sake.
Death
Closing out Life and Death, the album’s final track and thematic bookend to its opener, “Life,” lands with real finality. As a closer, it pulls together the record’s heaviest sonic elements — low-tuned guitars, unrelenting drums, and a vocal performance that sounds genuinely spent by the track’s end. It’s a fitting way to wrap an album that critics were divided on; some outlets found the record’s back half repetitive, but even skeptical reviews acknowledged that the emotion in Crafter’s voice couldn’t be faked.
Send a Meat Truck
Going all the way back to 2009’s debut Cancer, “Send a Meat Truck” is one of the rawest tracks in Confession’s whole catalog. Recorded at Sound House Studio in Adelaide and mixed by Roman Koester of The Red Shore, the track has a scrappier, more DIY hardcore energy than anything from the later Nordström or Castleman-produced eras. Cancer went on to earn recognition as an Australian Album of the Year within the underground scene, and cuts like this one — unpolished, chaotic, built on raw aggression — explain exactly why. If you want to hear where this band started before the bigger studios got involved, this is the track to play first.
Frequently Asked Questions
What genre is Confession’s music?
Confession plays metalcore, occasionally described as melodic metalcore on The Long Way Home, with heavier, more unclean-vocal-driven songwriting on Life and Death. The band’s sound draws from Australian and Scandinavian metalcore traditions, especially once producer Fredrik Nordström got involved in 2011.
What is Confession’s best album?
That depends on what you’re looking for. The Long Way Home (2011) is generally considered the band’s most polished and melodically ambitious record, while Life and Death (2014) was their commercial high point, debuting at number 19 on the ARIA Albums chart. The debut, Cancer (2009), remains a fan favorite for its rawer, more DIY hardcore energy.
Who is Michael Crafter?
Michael Crafter is the founder and sole constant member of Confession, formed in 2008. Before starting the band, he was the vocalist for I Killed the Prom Queen, and he’s also fronted Carpathian and Bury Your Dead. He lives a straight edge lifestyle and has spoken openly about grief, addiction, and illness in his songwriting.
Why did Confession break up?
Confession went through several major lineup changes throughout their run, with Crafter eventually becoming the only original member left by the Life and Death era. The band announced their breakup in 2015, with vocalist Michael Crafter stepping away from music, and completed a farewell tour across Australia in early 2016.
What is the meaning behind “Fuck Cancer”?
The song title references Crafter’s own charity work under the same name, and the single’s video features real cancer survivors and their families rather than actors. It was released in May 2014 ahead of the Life and Death album as a direct, unfiltered response to loss that the band felt needed no softer framing.