Review Summary: Bacon fused with pineapple wreaks pleasant mayhem in maj7.
Each time Alarum release an album, I wonder how these guys keep going this unnoticed. Admittedly, the Melbourne outfit being as versed and skilled as they are unprolific, "each time" means not that often. Throughout its lifespan the band seems to have been content with operating in the background, flashing the odd musical gem at the world, say, every six to nine years. In other words, new developments tend to take a while in these dudes’ universe. When they do take place, however, they are usually worth dwelling upon a bit longer, and they seem to come without expiry dates.
Those familiar with Alarum’s work will know that the boys like their techy metal bacon as crisp, crunchy and crushing as the next, but not without throwing in that slice of Latin jazz pineapple for good measure. While previous packages such as
Eventuality and
Natural Causes were every bit as acrobatic and full-out nuts in that respect, the band’s 2020 full-length may be their most balanced record to date. By way of precipitated summary,
Circle's End brings all the good death/thrash-metal-meets-fusion tropes, drawing genealogical lines from Cynic and Atheist to modern succulent TDM production, without coming off as generic.
Whereas opener "Sphere of Influence" storms in with disorienting immediacy, seemingly throwing every idea at us at once (pummelling riffs + Latin cleans + chunky chugging + arpeggios + tom rolls + mid range grunts mixed with melodic vox: check!), the title track penultimately, around the 31 minute mark, provides a more laidback sample card of what the band is about at this point, as it nicely balances out clean bossa vs punchy distorted passages, and minor vs major keys in the harmonious soloing, into a meaningfully layered progression that wreaks pleasant maj7 mayhem. While mostly perfecting a tried and tested formula – striking varying matches between metallic aggression and melodic fusion –, the mix and writing Alarum bring to the table will still pleasantly catch you off guard and put a smile on your face. No-compromise thrash riffing undeniably takes the foreground in “Syzygy”, “Thoughts to Measure” and “War of Nerves” (drums and tempo changes being also definite standouts on that one), but even there the clean bossa breaks oddly never feel out of place. “Delta” is all about the lush 5/9 chords, while “Sand” pulls off a smooth buildup from a nice jazzy Latin rock vibe with chorus-modulated clean guitar licks, into death/thrash territory with grunts as well as clean vocals. “In Spiral” (those circular arpeggios!) and “Sojourn” highlight the same ability to craft beautifully layered soundscapes where contrasts between clean and distorted resolve – yes,
f u s e – into combinations, unions, harmonies.
What more is there to say? All instruments stand out technically, here is a bunch of musicians once more being experts in their craft. The mix is lush and bright.
Circle’s End brings an excellent consolidation of and capitalization on Alarum’s work to date. For those that have not checked the band’s previous discography, here is another welcome occasion to do so.
