On their first full-length since 2015’s Grievances, the four-piece have subtly tweaked their sound, this time around focusing on eerie melodic motifs and stretches of tension-filled negative space. Each of Kowloon Walled City’s three previous full-lengths saw them carefully hack away at the sonic palette of the album that came before, toning down the distortion, restraining the intensity and drawing out the maximum possible tension from their angular, anguished songs.
The Portland brood’s debut gives us 35 minutes of undisputed anger which leaves our ears ringing long after Emma Boster’s last scream. The multi-faceted tableau of contempt sprawls across 11 punk infused tracks which make no apologies for being pissed.
“Your demons don’t lie and neither do mine” Boster yells over metal chug and the hardcore double kick of ‘Cowards Feed, Cowards Bleed’. Expressing frustration towards the titular cowardice, each strike within the thick riffs spit venom to eat away at the flesh of any lily-liver.
Their breakout album Ascendancy did exactly that and they ascended swiftly to metal’s upper echelons. Shogun stands as a towering achievement of modern metal, with grandiose, progressive flourishes and more hooks than a fishing convention. Though after the underwhelming Silence In The Snow, many questioned if Trivium had lost their fire; that is, until The Sin And The Sentence proved doubters wrong and What The Dead Men Say did the same all over again.
So where does that leave tenth album In The Court Of The Dragon? With lofty expectations and a mountain to climb, certainly. Let’s be absolutely clear though – like the artwork the album bears and the dragon of its namesake, this is Trivium once again firing on all cylinders and cementing this as perhaps the finest three album run of their entire career. After ambient opener ‘X’, the album immediately throws down the gauntlet with the raging, bombastic title track. Its Gothenburg-esque riffing coupled with Matt Heafy’s bark make for commanding listening, but it’s the chorus where Trivium really let loose and soar. Underpinning a gigantic hook, Alex Bent’s blastbeats are frenetic, urgent and preposterously good. The band even find room to drop arguably the most metal mosh call of the year in “The stars have died and the heavens go up in flames” before a savage breakdown.
“They gave us all that no one asked for” Niklas Karlsson bellows against ‘Mast Of The World’’s groove metal style riffs. A frantic chorus jerks to a stop, the keys which follow blow the dreary soundscape wide open. ‘Mast Of The World’ is pure dystopia, powering the reenergised Orbit Culture. It’s obvious time has been invested into these tracks as the peaks and troughs provided by piano sections and string interludes are nothing short of sublime. Guitars saunter through a particularly charged instrumental for an outro which declares Orbit Culture aren’t messing around.
Following a success such as Nija would cast a shadow over any band. Orbit Culture not only stride out from the shadows but obliterate any trace of darkness. Shaman is clean and sharp in its execution. The laser focus of moving into the live arena means there are few frills but Shaman is not devoid of thrills. ‘Flight Of The Fireflies’’ guitars buzz like the wings of its namesake. Ritualistic growls nestle themselves in hummingbird drums and a metallic chug deemed to prick the ears of any Trivium fan. This ritual continues well into ‘Carvings’. “The totem figure speaks the truth” come the fanatic growls of Karlsson from the corner of the cave. Guitars grind against cultist drums. A subtle choral section seeks to indoctrinate us. By the time Karlsson and Richard Hansson blast into the breakdown, the recruitment process is complete; Shaman carved into our minds.
Formed in 2008, They Fell From The Sky is the brain child of Jason Bowld (Bullet For My Valentine) and Colin Doran (Hundred Reasons). Originally meant to be a songwriting project with guitarist Dave Draper, Decade began to take shape. 13 years later, Decade gives us ten tracks and a lot of expectations.
For anyone expecting something close to the metal powerhouse of Bullet For My Valentine, it would be best to park those thoughts for an hour. Leaning closer to the alt rock affiliations of Hundred Reasons, Decade is an emotional look at what it is to be human. Coming out of one monolithic shadow, however, plants them in another.
“I’m stronger for my trials” Doran proclaims in opening ‘Dry’. Bowld frantically counts in what promises to be a track worth waiting for. Yet the typical alt rock wall of chords leaves us underwhelmed. ‘Can’t Think Of Anything’’s harsher sounding chord progression sparks hope as it peters out into a melodic riff. An aspiring anthemic chorus attempts to keep up the pace of a frantic mind yet gets lost in thought.
Capturing FRAUDS in a live setting is a joyous occasion every time. Regardless of how many miles driven or lack of sleep on the road, Chris (Drums/Vocals) & Mikey (Guitar/Vocals) bring theatre and enjoyment to every moment they grace a stage. These qualities somewhat displayed in their 2019 LP With Morning Toast & Jam & Juice.
Slowly pre and post various lockdowns they have dipped their toes into playing new material such as lead single for this outing ‘Copenhagen’. Thankfully we can now hear in full what they were holding onto since recording in early 2020.
FRAUDS signing to Alcopop! was the key in them ending up in Belgium, the land of chocolate, waffles & beer to record with Max Goulding at GAM Studios after a conversation with their labelmates, Belgian noise makers, Raketkanon. This gave Chris & Mikey time and space away from their day-to-day to focus on creating this next outing.
