Pretty major turnaround in sound here. And it’s a change for the better. This Perth quintet’s debut of 2008, Avalon, was quite a brutal affair. Pretty much straight up, in your face metal with some progressive elements, and mostly dirty vocals. This band have turned the corner with their newie, and are putting themselves in an excellent position to increase their fanbase in doing so.
However, in losing some of their heavy edge, they haven’t dropped in the quality of their songwriting one iota. In fact they’ve stepped up a cog in this department. The increase in clean vocal melody and dynamics in their sound has in turn increased the memorable nature of their tunes. There are only occasional blasts of heaviness on the new album, and consequently they tend to make more of an impact when they occur, as opposed to when they’re coming at you full throttle constantly.
One Door sets the tone beautifully for the rest of the album to follow, and is highly accessible, relatively speaking. Possible single potential (if they cut it down from its six minutes plus length). Chasing Shadows is also extremely easy on the ear, while still retaining an epic quality, a strong degree of progressiveness and touches of heaviosity in tasteful measures. And speaking of epic, No Road Home (Solastalgia) closes things of magnificently, with its moody intro, off kilter but catchy riffing and groove and twelve minutes plus length. An early contender for song of the year this one. This record is chock-full of tasty selections however.
This is yet another fine example of just how far Australian heavy music has come in the last decade or so. It’s quite a monumental effort, and if it doesn’t garner them some serious national and international attention, there’s something seriously wrong in the universe. Powerful, progressive, interesting and accessible all at once, The Human Connection is a must have.
ROD WHITFIELD
