Polaris - The Mortal Coil album review

The Australian metalcore scene raises the bar once more

Cover art for Polaris - The Mortal Coil album

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One listen to The Mortal Coil and it’s not hard to understand why Parkway Drive have chosen Polaris as support on their upcoming A Decade Of Horizons Aussie tour. This Sydney-based metalcore mob are blowing up in their homeland right now for all the right reasons. Their 2016 EP, The Guilt & The Grief, set them aside from their peers, but in the short time since then the band’s songwriting chops have progressed quickly. The complex technical flourishes that littered their earlier material remain intact, but on Crooked Path, Casualty and Frailty they’ve been fused with atmospheric, emotive choruses and muscular grooves that recall While She Sleeps. Elsewhere, Consume rages like Beartooth at their mouthfoamingbest and the chorus for lead single The Remedy is pure gold. In Polaris we could easily be looking at Australia’s next metal heavyweights.

Dannii Leivers

Danniii Leivers writes for Classic Rock, Metal Hammer, Prog, The Guardian, NME, Alternative Press, Rock Sound, The Line Of Best Fit and more. She loves the 90s, and is happy where the sea is bluest.