Out now
Words by Greg Walker
Adelaide’s alt. have certainly made an impression on the local scene since emerging in late 2019. Despite the seemingly bad timing of almost instantly being shut down due to the Covid outbreak at the end of their first calendar year, alt. have not been held back by the subsequent lost opportunities. Quite the opposite, they have thrived.
Debut album dysfunctional clearly announced their game plan to a world closed for business, and newly released ABEYANCE capitalises on their recent live performances playing alongside names like Plini, Sleep Token, Karnivool and Cog, and supporting the likes of Don Broco and Northlane among others. Auspicious company for sure.
If you’re not familiar with their work, think blending Northlane, Bring Me The Horizon, and modern Architects with the broody dark moods of Deftones and Sleep Token, interlaced with rock and even pop characteristics. It shouldn’t work, but it somehow comes out in the wash in a style all their own.
alt.’s sound is massive, a product of modern metal production, all polish and precise with no studio errors to speak of, but comes across naturally full and warm unlike many carefully designed modern metal releases.
PARASITE is a throat punch, delivered first up to mark intent, containing the first of many exquisite little details on the album in a nice delayed depth charge of a drop in the intro. A driving bounce is coloured in with Daniel Cullen-Richards’ crisp clean vocals, carrying you into the huge chorus painting a viciously clear impression of someone who has slighted the narrator. Basically an intro coupled to a twin set of verse/chorus/verse/chorus/out, this snippet is way too short, I want more of what this is.
Continuing immediately where PARASITE cut us off, first single WRAITH exposes us to the gamut of what alt. are capable of. Big melodic choruses played against grooving riffs, an up-tempo thrashing thrown in mid-song, rich high notes sung with conviction, a scream-driven breakdown: it’s all here and was a very tasty sneak peek unleashed a whole six months before the album release.
Ideal early single from February, the chorus of THE GREAT DEPRESSION has a massive hook, a commercial appeal that is a juxtaposition to the simple bludgeon of the opening riff. Another perfect taster for what to expect contained within the rest of the album. The darkness of the subject matter is filled in superbly by the music’s atmosphere, the desperation in the lyric is conveyed flawlessly, the pleading most apparent in the line “Can’t you take me to Heaven, I feel like I’m bathing in sin.” The Great Depression indeed.
Third single A.D.D. is a standout among the standouts thus far. Released in March, a palpable tension builds the entire way up to the chorus, “like a time bomb ticking” as the lyrics would parallel. You know it’s holding back a flood; even the frantic opening riff purposely fails to give you the release that’s eventually unleashed with precise timing. The melody line of the chorus is absolutely delicious, on first listen it went entirely the opposite direction to where I expected to be taken, but its path and flow fits like a glove. It’s such a delightfully constructed earworm that I caught myself whistling the melody in the kitchen hours after I’d had another play through! What an amazing listen this chorus is. The build-up at the breakdown launches into a busy section that musically relates the wild agitated state of the title’s condition.
There are a myriad of bands spanning the metal genres whose vocalists are most definitely not singers. Numerous frontmen screech and bark because they cannot do anything else. ABEYANCE utilizes harsh screams and growls very sparingly, and when they do cut through their presence only accentuates the desperation and frustration being imparted. Daniel can actually sing and belt out notes of quite a range and strength. It’s refreshing to listen to an album brimming with talented clean singing, displaying beautiful little details like the verse line tails in A.D.D., a tiny hint of vibrato shining through.
BACK TO EARTH hits with a more cheerful feel and poppier tempo, delivering on the choral promise of “I just wanna make you move”. Ideal for live performances, the audience will have no choice but to move. It would not be out of place on a hard rock album, a dreamy mid-section floats us into a big bounce with an almost rappy vocal gliding into a sweet little guitar solo. This is a fun feel, BACK TO EARTH has a positivity not felt in the tracklisting so far, it is a breathing space within the heavier emotions of the previous songs. A brief flicker of light in the gloom.
Many bands are exposing their upcoming albums by releasing a multitude of singles prior to the album date, and alt. also utilised this formula. The fourth of eventually five pre-release singles, APEP is another showcase of an innate ability to meld pop awareness with huge metal moments. A treat for the old-school headbanger and the modern devotee alike, lyrically APEP is a blunt declaration aimed squarely at a nemesis who best be warned.
Is fifth single AFRIENDINTHEDARK a horror story about battling depression? Drawn in by a beautifully haunting opening that could be the start of a pop-rock anthem, a jarring electronic jump scare snaps your attention, and before you know it you’re caught, the drum beat and guitars pummelling you without mercy. A quickened heartbeat tags along under the second verse as you try to escape, knowing that the final attack is coming. The big moment hits, an almost Swedish melodic metal overplay entangles the riff as you feel the closure envelop you. An amazing falsetto sees you out. This is an insanely good track.
Where AFRIENDINTHEDARK only promised a pop-rock anthem, THE ONLY GOOD THING delivers. A threat disguised as a love song, it seems to be a solemn proclamation of one’s perceived inadequacies when stacked up against the one we idolise, who we completely love, who we see as perfection. Eventually we realise though that the subject is much darker than a stereotypical pop-rock anthem. Filled with lines we can all relate to at some point in our lives, THE ONLY GOOD THING paints a picture of a devotion that quickly teeters on the brink of obsession, worshipping the idea, raising a figure unwillingly and perhaps even unknowingly up on a pedestal. There is a desperation and darkness in the breakdown strains of “I’ll never let go” repeated over and over, then whispered chillingly. A stark premonition of devotion decayed.
Title track ABEYANCE is another up-tempo track that’s bound to be an additional live rock anthem gem. The upbeat feel betrays the hesitancy and doubt of the topic, swinging between not wanting to continue and a reasoned hesitancy to end it all. ABEYANCE is another clever mix of a positive soundtrack coupled with polar opposite lyrical matter.
BETTER OFF LEAVING is a culmination of all the songs before it on this album, noting a realisation that a particular journey is over, but it’s okay to move on. Not simply talking about the end of a relationship, an acceptance has been reached that it’s okay to end this anguish and be done with it no matter what is waiting on the other side. It is musically gorgeous flowy pop, with Sleep Token-type electronic vocal distortions in the intro weaving ethereal voices from beyond, brass instruments enhancing a big rock heart, a climactic finale to 34 minutes of hurt, doubt, and transgressions suffered. It really does leave you feeling like it’s a viable solution. BETTER OFF LEAVING is a distinct statement of intent, as much as the opening PARASITE.
ABEYANCE almost feels like a concept album, the whole record recounts the struggle against inner turmoil in the face of external adversities, desperately searching for permission to give it all up, and finally in the last chapter succumbing to the inevitable yet accepted result through the main character’s specious reasoning. The overwhelming theme of being in a downtrodden desperate headspace would appear to be autobiographical; if the pain wrought throughout truly were autobiographical, I’d urge immediate intervention. As a select collection of songs with a similar theme that supports and glues the final grouping together, it is an outstanding piece of carefully assembled works.
With only the final track running over four minutes, ABEYANCE is short, sharp, and to the point. I don’t want to call album of the year this early, but it’s definitely a frontrunner before we even reach the halfway mark.
*All reviews in HEAVY are just one person’s opinion of the album. We encourage honesty in reviews but just because our reviewer may or may not like/appreciate an album, that doesn’t mean their opinion is right! We encourage you to have a listen for yourself and make up your own minds!*
