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Album Reviews : Figures – Chronos

By on June 16, 2017

It’s only been eight or nine months since the release of this Melbourne band’s debut EP, so it’s great to see a band prepared to put in the sheer hard work required to release regular music, and music of a high quality.

And high quality is exactly what we have here. The debut EP was excellent, and garnered them much attention across the nation, and now Chronos sees the band stepping instantly out of its shadow. This new EP signals a large step forward in growth and an attitude of change and development. It is even bigger, bolder and more diverse and well-rounded than the debut.

This is best illustrated by the EP’s ‘bookends’, which couldn’t be more contrasting, within the context of this band’s sound. After an eerie intro, single Recoil veritably bursts out of the speakers with force, bounce and the howling vocals of an angry Mark Tronson, before relieving the tension with a soaring melodic chorus.

On the absolute flip-side, Crying Door sends shivers down the spine with its melancholy atmospherics and Tronson’s darkly swooning delivery of the vocal lines. It is an unearthly way of closing the EP, and they have never done anything like this before, but it works an absolute treat.

At the same time, Chronos still retains the signatures that made the debut EP so strong. It still sounds exactly like them. So they are walking that fine line very skilfully indeed.

In fact, there is a very sweet balance being hit on this EP, on an overall basis. It’s certainly heavy, although not so brutal as to turn non-metal loving rock fans away. It’s advanced enough musically to impress prog-heads whilst avoiding alienating punters who are confounded by prog’s technical wankery. And Tronson’s vocals hit that sweet-spot between full-throated howls and towering melodics.

Chronos is killer, check it out as soon as it drops.

Band: Figures
Album: Chronos
Year: 2017
Genre: Progressive/alternative rock
Label: Independent
Origin: Australia

About

Rod Whitfield is a Melbourne-based writer and retired musician who has been writing about music since 1995. He has worked for Team Rock, Beat Magazine, themusic.com.au, Heavy Mag, Mixdown, The Metal Forge, Metal Obsession and many others. He has written and published his memoirs of his life and times in the music biz, and also writes books, screenplays, short stories, blogs and more.