Review Summary: Voices From The Fuselage debut with a superb full length, blending elements of post rock ambience with progressive songwriting.
When it was announced that Ashe O' Hara had joined Tesseract for vocals, I was both excited and disappointed. I was excited to see how his vocals would shape up to Tesseract's very rhythmic sound, and when Altered State was released I definitely was very impressed. However, I was disappointed because his band prior to that, Voices From the Fuselage, became inactive for quite a while. After their debut EP, 'To Hope', I was excited to see where the band would go after that. They do a very good job at combining the atmosphere and cinematic feel of post rock along with the exquisite songwriting of progressive rock and progressive metal. However, after Ashe stepped down from doing vocals for Tesseract I eagerly awaited the announcement of new Voices From the Fuselage material and was very excited to hear it.
The first song from this album was a demo of 'A Principle God', a song which definitely showed a much softer approach to their sound, but nevertheless was a superb song in its own right. This song is driven more by melody and Ashe's vocals than by the rhythm work.
Despite this, the whole album does a good job of balancing songs driven by melody and rhythm. The intro track, 'Ortus', is one of the best opening tracks to an album I've heard this year, with plenty of atmosphere and a huge build up at the end which leads into the second track and first proper single, 'Inner Child'. This is a very different song to the two aforementioned songs, with more concentration on the guitar work which is heavier, but is never overpowered. Not only does this band succeed in creating a very cinematic atmosphere, they never drown out that atmosphere with outrageously heavy guitar work. It's an album where balance between heaviness and atmosphere is executed brilliantly.
Ashe's vocals on here are just as soulful as you would expect, and they fit superbly with the instruments. As much as I liked Altered State, when first listening to it I felt as if there was a little bit of tension between the vocals and the instrumentation. In this, there is no tension, and the vocals fit perfectly with the music. The songwriting is also very impressive, and there are very few moments where the lyrics feel underwhelming or lackluster.
If I had any criticisms of the album, it can drag somewhat in the second portion; the final version of 'A Principle God' is superb and one of the better songs on the second half. Track 6, 'Epicinium' is a nicely executed trip-hop song but it feels a bit like a filler track, and track 8, 'Devil's Advocate', seemed to be a little too long for its own good, although it does have some impressive moments. Luckily the last two tracks make up for this, with 'Astral Existence' having a groove-laden bass riff which comes up throughout the song, and is the best example of the heavier tracks. The final track, aptly entitled 'Departure', is a superb finale to the album and the added female vocals really are the icing on the cake for this song, which is definitely the best on the record.
All in all, I'm glad Voices From the Fuselage are finally using the potential they showed on their first EP, and I'm excited to see where this band goes in the future. This is a fantastic record and a great example of blending post rock with progressive rock and progressive metal.
Overall Rating: 4.2/5
Recommended tracks: Meteorites, A Principle God, Astral Existence, Departure
