Islander
Power Under Control
Victory Records
Release Date: 5 August 2016
Review by Quinton Farrow
This wasn’t supposed to happen; what’s old eventually becomes new again, but a decade without Nu-Metal was possibly not quite enough. The signs began with King 810, and while they were on the offering scale closer to Slipknot, that early 2000’s aesthetic was showing signs of a revival. Islander released their debut Violence & Destruction in 2014, but are on the other side of the spectrum edging towards tendencies of Papa Roach and P.O.D.
Violence & Destruction was a good album though and the song writing was good enough to sound fresh in todays landscape. Islander have endured some line-up changes since Violence & Destruction, and upon the release of it’s follow up, it seems as though the conscious decision was made to gradually veer away from the Nu-Metal classification, effectively scaling back the fat power riffs and incorporating a more melodic vocal performance and varied strong structure.
Rap metal is still sprinkled through the opening track, Darkness, which is the closest thing resembling Violence & Destruction, tracks such as Beelzebub and Green Slime Man have a Letlive like influence emanating through, which is great but it doesn’t quite hit the pass mark. The moments where vocalist Mikey Carvajal really lets loose are the highlights, although they happen fleetingly, which is a shame.
Power Under Control is a confusing and inconsistent album. There are some good moments, but the decision to move away from the aggressive foundation set on Violence & Destruction has not worked.
2/5
