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Transience – Temple – Album Review

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Transience
Temple
Collision Course
Release Date: Out Now
Review by Rod Whitfield

Over the last ten years or more, Australia has become a relentless production line of excellent progressive heavy rock acts. The conveyor belt just keeps churning day and night, and you can add the name Transience to that growing list of bands, which includes, but is far from limited to, the likes of Karnivool, Cog, The Butterfly Effect, Dead Letter Circus, Twelve Foot Ninja and Jericco.

This Melbourne six piece are very much pursuing that uniquely Aussie prog rock sound, you can certainly hear the inspiration of bands like the ‘Vool and DLC in their powerhouse, left of centre soundscapes, but they are certainly adding their own twist to the tale as well.

The vocals of frontman Robert Cuzens are soothing, crooning, powerful and uplifting in the manner of Kenny, Benzie, Boge et al, and occasionally he resembles those great men in his tone and his approach to phrasing the vocal lines. But you can also hear tinges of someone like Claudio Sanchez of Coheed and Cambria as well. He has an excellent range, and he delivers it all with sometimes heart wrenching emotion.

Like any progressive band worth their salt, these guys are masters of dynamics, they know how to rock like thunder, when to pull back to beautiful moments of dark, wistful ambience and melody, and anything and everything in between. Musicianship, as you would expect, is absolutely top notch, these guys have chops and tastefulness in equal measure, and the production shines like magic.

Songs, there’s not a weak link among the ten on offer here. All are uniquely crafted, all take you on a unique journey, all are catchy and complex at once. However, in this day and age of goldfish level attention spans, make sure you get to the end of the album, as they have very much left the best ’til last. People’s Temple and Shining Lights are both epic and wondrous, and complete the album in a manner that leaves you both highly satisfied and wanting to turn around and hear the whole thing again.

This album is good enough to become a landmark in Aussie progressive heavy rock, and has staked its claim for top albums of 2015 honours. Check it out. Now.

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