Review: Statues – Together We’re Alone

Statues - Together We're Alone[avatar user=”Mosh” size=”50″ align=”left” /]Statues hail from the west of Australia, based in Perth. Which is a nice place (spent some time there) with some interesting hostels and decent local brews. However, this doesn’t stop the youth getting pissed off an angry, because that’s what kids do.

The enjoyable upshot of this is Together We’re Alone, the debut album from this screaming five-piece. They’ve spent the last five years writing, recording and playing live and their first release is due out on January 9th.

In this humble reviewer’s opinion, it’s five years well spent. The majority of tracks are around 3 minutes long with a couple longer, couple shorter and I reckon this owes a lot to their live experience. This kind of “chaotic hardcore” lends itself well to a quick-fire, hammered blast, a pause and another round… and another… and another.

Having said that, the three shortest tracks on the album are the ones which throw a spanner into the works the most in terms of genre definition. Opener “All Fears Are Learned All Victories Are Earned” has more than an edge of groove metal, whereas “Hope Is” is just over a minute of country-style sliding steel guitar. “I Want Peace” is a near a capella piece of Gospel. Come on, guys – try to make it easy for a reviewer, eh?

The other tracks are more straightforward, abrasive and hard-hitting. Take “Affliction Prescription” for instance. No intro, no fucking about. Straight in with the screamed vocals, hammering drums, crashing guitars and twanging bass. It barely lets up, either. This is probably why most of the tracks stop at a little over three minutes – nobody could survive any longer without a break.

“Within Arm’s Reach” has more of a “hands up, hands down, get the crowd bouncing” rhythm with slower sections for you to get your breath. There really is a whole hell of a lot of variety in the album’s dozen songs. As such, it’s an album that’s well worth a listen. Just on the off-chance you don’t like one track, skip to the next and you’ll have a completely different experience. Yet, it all ties together well.

If you like your post-hardcore with a lot of traditional sounds mixed in and enjoy a surprise here and there, then you really should be paying attention to Statues. Together We’re Alone is a good album because the band haven’t limited themselves to the expected. I wouldn’t say it breaks barriers, but it certainly extends them to cover a huge area.

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