By Olivia Stanley
Before listening to the album, my interest was already piqued. Having taken a look into them, I noticed they’re a very new band, with a shockingly low listener count. I gathered a rough idea of their style, with “themes of Victorian occultism and folk horror” being mentioned in their website; I was excited to listen, as it’s a sub-genre that I hadn’t really given too much of a listen before. However this being their debut, with only two singles released prior, I was excited to get into a band this early in their career.
The first track, ‘Lady Silence’, instantly caught my attention, with aggressive and upfront vocals, paired with a mixture of chugging rhythm guitar, and clean, sharp octaves over it. This track pulled me in really well, and had me enjoying the album from the first few seconds.
Other tracks stood out to me just as much, notably the third track of the record, ‘Asphodelus’, featuring some of my favourite vocals from the album, and a unique, haunting, dark guitar behind it. The song’s spot on vocals paired with the instrumental perfectly. Featuring a chorus with an incredible build-up compared to the quieter verses of the song. Absolutely one of the stronger tracks of the album.
The following track, ‘Under The Rose’, featured some of my favourite guitar parts on the album, and some of the heaviest vocals of the album so far, with clean vocals added in the verses. This song is definitely another favourite of mine from the album.
The title track of the album, ‘The Last Great Awakening’, had a different feel to it compared to the other tracks, with cleaner, eerie vocals, and a slow but building guitar paired with it. The song had a unique feel, incredible instrumentals, another really solid track.
The following track, ‘The Untouchable’, opens with a hauntingly beautiful piano intro, before the fast, aggressive guitar kicks in. The track features both clean singing and screaming, the two styles contrasting each other really well, making for a beautiful track.
In conclusion, the album has a brilliant mix of hauntingly slow piano and clean vocals, and in your face guitar with distorted screams. A few of the later tracks of the album almost merged into one in a way, the sound it kept consistent, and it’s clear this is a well thought out album, by a group passionate about their music. Especially as this was a debut album, the production, and skill of the musicians is clear, and I could see them gaining quite a following; I will be listening again in the future.
- ‘The Last Great Awakening’ is out now.