VOLA
Friend Of A Phantom
VOLA is continually successful in the construction of a sound that combines prog, heavy breakdowns and the anthemic into an immersive and accessible style. Across their discography the Danish / Swedish quartet throw in catchy hooks and memorable lyrics while pushing boundaries with their musical experimentation. I’m pleased to say that not only does this continue in Friend Of A Phantom, but it is also elevated further.
Joined by In Flames’ Anders Fridén, the album beigns with their epic collaboration, Cannibal. It’s a powerful opener to Friend Of A Phantom diving into the heavier side of VOLA’s sound and unleashing thundering rhythms, accompanied with soaring vocals and poppy synth hooks. Fridén’s harsh add an extra dimension to the track with the monstrous texture of his distorted vocal. Bursting straight into Break My Lying Tongue, the momentum only increases as the high intensity and fast pace creates an explosive opening. The band’s signature electronics come into the play, of course, with a shrill high pitched synth motif making itself known. It is somewhat close to the edge of being too shrill, however, it’s just about had enough equalisation to avoid this. Shifting drastically between the more minimal verse arrangements, and the track’s dark bridge, the anticipation and energy is only augmented.
We Will Not Disband arrives carrying with it a sharp contrast. The opening brings a moment of serene with parts including acoustic guitar and orchestral strings. It is only a few moments however, before the track explodes into a full instrumental arrangement complete with grounding bass and djenty rhythms. Glass Mannequin is eerily beautiful. Delicate synths, and haunting lead vocals adorned with FX, supported with a subtle synth bass layer, creates a ghostly yet alluring soundscape. The focus is well and truly on the emotive lyrics. Gradually, as the track progresses, the electronic layers build with beats appearing past the two-and-a-half minute mark and enhancing the rhythm. In its simplicity it’s a stunning song. Landing in the middle of what feels like an early 2000s video game soundtrack, the industrial style of Bleed Out produces an intriguing gloomy mood. The bright and soaring chorus once again sees VOLA play with the dynamics of light and shadow. Followed by Paper Wolf, the moody atmosphere is continued into this track. Momentum and vigor drive the track from the off, layered with a vast range of textures across their guitars and synth selections.
Delving into the emotive and melancholy I Don’t Know How We Got Here, sombre lyrics explore tragic events and how they encountered and dealt with in society. Hollow Kid arrives with fierce unrelenting rhythms and the dramatic opening lyric: “Death”. While musically the chorus rises into lighter tones, the darkness is not shaken off. Concluding the album is Tray. Another haunting offering, the focus is placed on the lead vocals while eerie, yet soft synths surround. There’s a ghostly aspect with synth bells. The percussion and bass soon emerge, grounding the soaring and airy parts. Tray fades out to end with an uncanny impact as VOLA continue to captivate in Friend Of A Phantom. Exploring a smorgasbord of instruments, textures, and compositional arrangements—crafting enthralling and fully immersive soundscapes that transport you into their creative realm. It’s progressive and aggressive, yet serene and comforting; VOLA conveys powerful storytelling across their dynamically evolving music. • HR
For fans of: TesseracT, Charlotte Wessels, Leprous
‘Friend Of A Phantom’ by VOLA is out now on Mascot Records.
Defences
Shadowlight
Look, there’s only so much can say sometimes. Metalcore as a whole doesn’t exactly put in the work to keep lack of innovation covert, and when the new hotness emerges with so, so many in its wake clamouring for a crumb of attention, that’s even truer. Defences come in the lineage of acts with sights firmly set on Spiritbox’s turf, though more likely a cross-section of metal ‘legitimacy’ and just enough of a mainstream foothold. When your idols now have more than one high-profile collaboration with Megan Thee Stallion under their belt, a newer band might look at that with awe and think of what’s to come, should they try their hardest to fall as cleanly in the same lines as possible. More often than not, said ambition winds up more misguided than anything. Shadowlight is perfect proof of that, as it yields technically sound results that stay around a miniscule fraction of the time they want to.
It’s invariably the same as many of the spawn that emerge from similar avenues. Defences are clutching onto bright-eyed determination and a mirror image of what could be, seemingly unaware of the insurmountable luck that’s arguably the most important factor in these situations. Like, they are pretty good, but so are the swathes of other identikit metalcore chancers. The closest thing to a home-run hitter that Defences have is vocalist Cherry Duesbury, and even then, there are multiple other women in various rock fields with similar timbres and techniques. In terms of Shadowlight itself, the closing title track is probably the best display of soaring scale, but is that real impact or a consequence of a final moment resonating more on that basis alone? It’s hard to tell, ‘cause there’s not much to work with.
If that all sounds like some merciless quashing of Defences before they’ve even gotten properly started…well, it’s not supposed to. There are far worse metalcore bands out there, objectively, than one that’s just a little unremarkable. The problem is the quantity of unremarkable acts to whom that could apply, where you’re left really scouring around for a cogent plus that can genuinely mean something. Being decently sounding and produced for what it is only counts for so much. They’re broad strokes that Defences exhibit, and thus wind up as the only quality of Shadowlight that burrows in. If there were something else, maybe this very discussion of it wouldn’t sound so noncommittal and scrambling for even something to point out.
So, yeah, that’s about all that’s possible to wring out of Defences. In the planet-spanning identity parade of modern metalcore—as in, metalcore bands actively searching for an identity—they sure are shuffling along with the rest of ‘em. It’s a shame because they do have the tiniest, most fleeting nugget of real potential going for them, to build up should they ever reach their vaunted, Spiritbox-esque level. Right now, though, when they’re comfortably in the middle of the road, there’s a Herculean effort still to pull off. This is a face in the metalcore crowd if there ever were one. • LN
For fans of: Spiritbox, Bad Omens, Architects
‘Shadowlight’ by Defences is released on 8th November on Long Branch Records.
Arctis
Arctis
Expect Arctis to be enormous at some point because all of these bands just end up that way. Here we have another name in the hat of Nordic metal bands emboldened by a taste for Europop, to the point where it’s practically impossible to get a bead on where their own identity starts and scene mandates end. Not only is the repetition tiresome, but so is the music itself, often so overstuffed and pounding that a full album can be a proper ordeal. But it always does well, apparently, hence Arctis’ headfirst dive with a full album. It may be a giant, encumbered chore to get through, but hey, at least it’s hitting its quotas.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about it is how it can genuinely hard to tell whether Arctis are actually phoning this in, or whether the illusion of a cutting-edge, forward-thinking brand of metal is real to them. Alva Sandström definitely falls into the latter category; you don’t oversing to the point of incomprehensibility like on the chorus of I’ll Give You Hell without belief in the craft. But then she gets caked in effects to strongarm her away from the scene’s instinctively operatic Valkyries. With that, the allusions to freedom and power backed by wintry Finnish vistas lose a lot of their weight (not like the writing style gave them much in the first place). The one legitimate standout is Bimbo, a cover of a Lambretta song from 2001—and with how the lyrics go…bloody hell, does it feel like it!—with a hook that’s punchier than anything Arctis will put down themselves by orders of magnitude.
That speaks more to how underwhelming Arctis feel, above all else. If the aim is to convey this electrified, crushing yet ultra-poppy form of metal, they’re getting there on superficial levels and no further. The copious amounts of production weigh it down more than they’ll lift it up, in a space akin to the bush-leaguers who’ll prize modern scope over power. Compared to, say, early Amaranthe—which is a touchstone that Arctis feel as though they’re clinging to inordinately tightly—the two ideals of Euro power-metal and exceedingly processed pop don’t mesh in new or interesting ways. For Arctis, there’ll be four-on-the-floor percussion on Fire and When The Lights Go Out, and some high gloss applied all over. That’s about it. It doesn’t even sound as expensive as these sorts of albums usually do, likely a result of bland utilitarianism in a style that, by default, should surpass that by leagues.
It all makes for a hollow, unexciting listen, and not even in a particularly interesting way. Sure, Arctis are falling behind many of their peers, even for as huddled together and at pace as they are, but not to such a level where this is an anomaly among them. It truly is bland in the worst way, recycled and regurgitated to a fault, and unable to even hide it. There are quite literally scores of acts in the same spaces that are so much more fulfilling than Arctis, and that have a better understanding of what makes this style tick. Success by birthright is about the best they can hope for. • LN
For fans of: Amaranthe, Ad Infinitum, Visions Of Atlantis
‘Arctis’ by Arctis is out now on Napalm Records.
Words by Holly Royle (HR) and Luke Nuttall (LN)
