Date Released: 22/07/2016
Label: Another Century Records
The rampant, ground-shaking riffs in
which ‘Above & Down Below’ both hinged and thrived on, while still present,
are sparse and feel a little undervalued. Instead, a radio friendly, vocal and
chorus centric approach orchestrates the album’s sonic personality.
“Weightless”
CD//DD//LP track listing:
1). Weightless
2). Save Us
3). A Reason Why
4). Clear
5). All of Me
6). Another Wasteland
7). Echoes
8). What If
9). Nothing to Prove
10). Better
11). Drown
12). Listening
13). Drying Out
The
Review:
Since
the release of 2014’s album, ‘Above
& Down Below, Æges’ stock has been slowly rising. The icing
on the cake for the band during this whirlwind past few years will no doubt be
their appearance on a bill alongside Tool, Primus and Coheed & Cambria on
Halloween of last year. Rubbing shoulders with Maynard and company however
seems to have had a big influence on the band as far as media hyping is
concerned. Already bigging up what initially appeared to be a rapid follow-up
to ‘Above & Down Below’, for a
while before the show, posting snippets of video shots in their studio in
Downtown LA, since that Halloween show the hype machine has gone into
overdrive. And so at first glance now ‘Weightless’
has arrived, it feels a little anti-climatic.
The
rampant, ground-shaking riffs in which ‘Above
& Down Below’ both hinged and thrived on, while still present, are
sparse and feel a little undervalued. Instead, a radio friendly, vocal and
chorus centric approach orchestrates the album’s sonic personality.
Although
the gap between the two albums, in context, is far from vast, it just feels
that, after such a long, winding trail of hyperbole from the band, they’ve
veered away from the magic that the excitement from within their fan base was
founded upon.
That
being said, this is a record which gains momentum and weight upon heavy
rotation. The more the title track’s thumping introduction and melodious chorus
hits your ears, the more fun it becomes. ‘A
Reason Why’ marries their individualistic big, romping riffs with an even
bigger chorus well, finding the perfect balance between the two schools of
thought which seem to be waging war on each other across this record. It stands
tall, the record’s stand out moment and a song to keep hold of.
‘Clear’ is bolstered by a slick usage of
the whammy pedal – with elephantine squeals aplenty – while ‘What If’, a real snaking song, is
driven by a venomous vocal performance. Yet, you feel it tries too hard to be
anthemic, repetitions of the chorus too common and, at 4:42 it does little to
keep your attention after the first couple of minutes.
Surprisingly,
‘Echoes’ returns from ‘Above & Down Below, and its
conclusion seems pointless. Any variations here are very minor and it leaves
you feeling a little cheated, detracting from the new material so many have
been desperate to hear for a long time now.
Then
there’s ‘All of Me’. While it is still a weighty song, its riffs and
the admittedly potent music feels undervalued in favour of that aforementioned
radio friendly approach. Not enough of their original magic shines through a
top layer which doesn’t truly justify its dominance. ‘Another
Wasteland’ picks the momentum right back up however, with a pulsating main
riff. Wrapped in an airy atmosphere, the slow bludgeoning riff that thunders
throughout the latter stages provides more evidence of what this band is
capable off, just not executing enough here.
In
the end then, you are left with a mixed bag of songs. Their best elements are
still present but are chained up, shackled. It comes across as a tamer effort
than its barnstorming predecessor, their crosshairs honing in on a more
mainstream audience. But if that is their plan of attack then they really
should have worked harder on giving these songs a more predatorial edge. There
is no real killer instinct about them apart from a few trend breakers. There
just isn’t the array of songs which, upon first listen become instantaneously
infectious and memorable; the kind that ‘Above
& Down Below basked in.
Not
a bad record, but one marred by never really getting out of third gear.
“Weightless” is available now
Band info: facebook
