Afterlight - Single Review: Resolve
There has never been any doubt in my mind
that the most difficult musical format to get right is that of a trio, as while
it is expected that the sound will be full and complete, there is also no room
to hide. That is even more the case when that trio decide to be instrumental as
there is no singer to take some of the load, and then what about when the musical
grounding is in metal? Well, these brave guys from Tauranga, Daniel (guitar), Issac
(bass), and Ash (drums), make it all seem so very easy indeed. This really is
an instrumental metal band, but don’t just take my word for it, they recently
played with the mighty Imperial Slave at Shredfest in Hamilton, and given that
I was at the next night of the tour I know just how brutal that would have been,
so these guys do not hold back on the volume or attack, but how do they make it
work?
They start off with a crunching riff, and then by the time they get to the bridge all three musicians are moving in different directions with kick drums, cymbals and polyrhythms in one place, the bass maintaining the riff, and then the guitar moving into more melodic territory. Although the guitar is often playing the “vocal” line, Isaac and Ash interchange their roles, either providing stability or further expansion. In some ways the underlying sound is quite djent, but they mix it up with different time signatures and styles so while they may move into death they could also be mixing in mathcore, all which makes for a very interesting sound indeed. It may be instrumental but there is an underlying groove guaranteed to make all metalheads lose their dandruff, with music which keeps changing and blending, so much so that in some ways this should be described as prog metal. This has been a great introduction to the band for me and I look forward to hearing more in the future.
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