Review Summary: Ambition meets complacency
I can say with absolute certainty that In Hearts Wake are one of the purest bands around. Having previously released four albums of environmentally conscious metalcore,
Kaliyuga is another set of songs about not furthering climate change and little else. While this may sound like overkill, the Aussies actually put their money where their mouths are, as opposed to the much easier option of merely preaching to the choir. After hosting multiple events such as ocean clean-up sessions, the band measured and offset the carbon footprint of the recording process of this new album, as well as exclusively selling ‘green’ merchandise. Which is incredibly commendable, and undeniably pure. Sadly, the band’s music fails to match this level of ambition here, with the eco-friendly packaging of physical copies perhaps being more praise-worthy than the actual contents of the album.
Kaliyuga gets off to a strong start, with the genuinely strong into track ‘Crisis’ manipulating and setting snippets of a Greta Thunberg speech to some crushing riffs. Which is a fair bit more interesting than, you know, having her say some words over vague, unremarkable instruments for five minute straight and calling it a day (about 1975 times more interesting, anyone?). Subsequent lead single ‘Worldwide Suicide’ is one of In Hearts Wake’s most enjoyable cuts in quite some time, offering two minutes of visceral vocals and surprisingly effective breakdowns. Lyrically, the track offers no surprises, which can hardly be deemed a bad thing as it sets the exact tone for the rest of the record. Bursting in with the subtlety of a forest fire raging through Australia, lead vocalist Jake Taylor screams about the impending end of the world and humanity’s crucial role in this.
Another reason for the song’s success can be put down to the fact that it contains clean vocals from neither Taylor nor bassist Kyle Erich. The latter’s voice has persistently been misused throughout In Hearts Wake’s discography, with the band often opting for solely leaving the poppy choruses and little else up to him.
Kaliyuga is no exception to this rule, with ‘Dystopia’ being the only cut where Erich truly gets a chance to shine. While his high-pitched vocals can be somewhat grating, especially when employed as predictably as they are on here, he is more than up to the task and provides a highly competent performance throughout. Taylor, on the other hand, is a decent screamer and a terrible clean vocalist. Showcasing his clean chops for the first time ever on the incredibly tacky ‘Crossroads’, the singer awkwardly half-whispers his way through the song. After this, featured artist Georgia Flood attempts to salvage the terrible nu-metal atmosphere as established by her ex-boyfriend’s incredibly poor performance.
At the end of the day, however,
Kaliyuga is metalcore comfort food with the best possible intentions. Throughout the record, the entire band proves perfectly capable of providing a canvas of high quality, cookie cutter instrumentation for the two vocalists to play and showcase minimal creativity on. There’s plenty of driving choruses (‘Force of Life’, ‘Hellbringer’), crushing breakdowns (the aforementioned ‘Worldwide Suicide’, ‘Son of a Witch’) to be found, but relatively little to truly bite one’s teeth into. The almost complete lack of outright bad moments as well as the occasionally rewarding sections make this record an above average affair. Even if it doesn’t have the same grit as
Ark or the sheer explosive nature of
Divination,
Kaliyuga is worth a listen or two, if only for the fact that In Hearts Wake are planting a tree for every thousand streams on the ‘Worldwide Suicide’ music video. Good for them, and the earth.
