Since 2014’s wildly progressive sophomore effort, Pink Lemonade, an awful lot has changed for Closure In Moscow. From marriages and children, to the strict pandemic lockdowns of the band’s home base in Melbourne, the recording of their third album has been marked by a variety of life changing events. This soaks into the music across the span of Soft Hell, an album which takes a close look at the decisions fear and trauma drive us to, and how we grow to live with the continuous discomfort this brings us. It’s a real whiplash from the eccentric vivacity of Pink Lemonade, but one that leads to a collection of tracks that, at times, verges on something brilliant.
Closure In Moscow have matured their funk-infused post-hardcore sound that made their earlier material so distinctive, turning the soundscape across much of this album into a rich and groove-filled affair. Bass lines snap with swaggering energy, whilst vocalist Christopher de Cinque sounds better than ever, swinging between soft crooning and intensely impressive belted melodies. ‘Better Way’ features some particularly killer riffs and one of the band’s finest vocal performances, whilst ‘Don Juan Triumphant’ packs a particularly rocking breakdown which acts as one of the grandest moments of the album. ‘Keeper of the Lake’ particularly stands out with its lyricism, really encapsulating the album’s underlying theme of growing comfortable in your discomfort (‘Water in my lungs is gonna free me from breathing/The surface has nothing but a fear I’ll be leaving’).
‘Absolute Terror Field’ is an undeniable high point, with an overwhelmingly distorted bass accompanied by a swaggering percussive rhythm to give the whole track an effortlessly cool flow, and that’s before we even touch on the slick rapped verses provided by Aphir. The unexpected stripped back closing statement of ‘My Dearest Kate’ rounds off the album on a powerfully emotive note, and is another one of the band’s finest performances, placing de Cinque’s desperate vocals against a simple, raw guitar performance. There’s a truly remarkable piece of art within this album, but it’s unfortunately clouded by one or two frustrating creative choices.
The central issue with Soft Hell, however, is that it simply feels like it is lacking in that ferocity that carried the funky freewheeling of the band’s earlier material. The tracks here are polished to the point of feeling squeaky clean, and at times, the album verges on late-stage Panic! At The Disco levels of overbearingly polished theatrics. On top of that, at 50 minutes, this is a decently long album, but one that lacks the substance to warrant being such a bulky listen. Too many songs, such as ‘Don Juan Triumphant’ and ‘Fine’ feel like they’re extended far past where they should be cut off, whilst in general the album takes too long to hit any real stride, and struggles to maintain it when it does.
Yet in the midst of this messiness, there is some real gold here; Soft Hell is an album that shows, even nine years later, Closure In Moscow has the capacity to create something that sounds nothing like anything their contemporaries are creating. Even when the album falls flat, the ambition behind expanding their infectious sound whilst writing something far more grounded and introspective than usually expected from them must be commended.