Believe it or not, but Future Palace’s Resurgence could actually have something going for it. At least, based on pure pattern recognition, anyway. It’s hardly a scientific metric, but you just have to look at the precedent of bands wresting themselves free of Arising Empire’s clutches. You’ve got the likes of Imminence and Novelists who, since being off of one metal’s most typecast labels, have picked up a fair bit of acclaim and goodwill. Future Palace may be as archetypal to their former home as it gets—metalcore; slick, bleached production; German—but perhaps Resurgence could be indicative of more than just a good name.
And…yeah, it’s decent. It kinda just sounds like what’s expected from Future Palace; the jump to Century Media hasn’t facilitated any wild, new stylistic re-ups. That was true of both Imminence and Novelists too, to be fair. Their improvements came from crystallising what was already there, the same as with Resurgence. Here’s another collection of huge, mega-melodic metalcore, hewn with the express purpose of being just that. Naturally it’s going to have at least some sort of leg up against the chaff when the effort is so concerted.
Granted, you still might struggle to pick Future Palace out of a lineup in some parts, thanks to those same efforts. Resurgence is better among the Euro-metalcore parameters, but for the genre as a whole, it’s no great swing. Future Palace are very much locked in, down to the mirror-sheen power-ballad Tidal Waves that’s one of the core tenets of pop-metalcore. Their more regular form is one of mid-paced tempos and choruses mandated to fill every spare micrometre of space. It’s an obscenely familiar template at this point, and one that Future Palace only get away with due to their commitment.
Even then, they aren’t so much blowing the roof off, as giving it a gentle nudge and disturbing the substrate a tad. Resurgence is a little more appreciative of sonic depth and texture than others of its kind, so some rougher, quasi-nu-metal tones on Deep Blue, Resurge and Nixy are welcome. Among the usual modern metalcore toolkit, anything approaching trap is an absolute no-no (see Disintegrate and The Shades for how awkward that could be), but synths generally work well overall. There’s a regality to how they’re included on Thorns, and Nightfall and Symphony Of The Clouds do feel elevated for them being there. Ultimately, it’s a safe, well-trodden sound executed well.
What definitively tips Resurgence into something more, though, is vocalist Maria Lessing. As a singer, she’s the standardly-good performer that all of these have; as a screamer, that’s a whole different matter entirely. There’s a pained, wrenched-out delivery that, on its own, lends an album rooted in vague anguish and turmoil a real boost. It’s particularly noteworthy on Nightfall, maybe the best song on the album for how willing to meet their limits Future Palace are. It’s Lessing who drives that, though, singlehandedly giving Future Palace the edge over the competition, and making standing out all the more probable.
It’s not quite there yet, but it’s not off the table, either. Resurgence feels like a good showcase more than a good album, sprinkling in moments of shine to be built up going forward. It’s still a solid-enough metalcore album when averaged out, but the more that Future Palace are willing to enhance, the better they’ll be. As it stands, the ties to Arising Empire-brand banality are definitely in the process of being severed. Given that’s often a perpetual state for bands in this position, it’ll be interesting to see what comes of that in the end, but having faith for more isn’t a bad thing.
For fans of: As Everything Unfolds, Annisokay, Conquer Divide
‘Resurgence’ by Future Palace is released on 31st July on Century Media Records.
Words by Luke Nuttall
