Album Review: Pridelands - 'Light Bends'
Let’s start with a science lesson. When light hits the boundary between two different materials it changes direction, due to a change in speed, which is itself due to the change in density. Put simply, as Pridelands’ debut album’s title states, light bends.
To put another thing simply, this album is ridiculously, viciously, almost unfairly good.
It would be almost too easy to start this review by talking about Pridelands’ background; the fact that they’re an Australian band in a country continuously churning out some of the most promising and objectively best heavy bands out there. To mention that this 11-track powerhouse of a debut was mixed by acclaimed producer George Lever, who’s tinkered with both Sleep Token and Loathe amongst others, two more recent explosions onto the scene. That ‘Light Bends’ was mastered by Ermin Hamidovic — think Periphery, Architects, Plini. That 2018’s ‘Any Colour You Want’ helped them to win the Triple J Unearthed competition to perform on UNIFY Gathering’s main stage alongside Thornhill, Trophy Eyes, Every Time I Die and more.
But giving the band context to demonstrate just how impressive they already are, as I mentioned already, is too easy. So let’s just dive right into the album.
‘I Reach Into Your Heart’, the album opener, starts not with a bang but with a gentle chime. The noise reverberates through the empty space around it, and, even when crashing drums begin to stake their claim to the song, that one slightly unsettling ring never ceases its incessant beat; somewhere between a heart monitor and a tolling bell. Joshua Cory’s vocals provide a soft caress which stands opposed to the almost nihilistically dark narrative, before Mason Bunt breaks into frame. “Anoint thee stains of humankind”, he roars, as the steadily building crescendos reach their peak and the first song concludes, setting the scene for the album to come. This scene, alongside being that metalcore scene we all know and love, is that of the start of the end: the devastating impact that humanity has had on the planet. Quite literally — the stains of humankind. No surprise, really, for an album that also features a song on the Australian wildfires that kicked off 2020 — the accusatory, sulphuric screams of ‘Heavy Tongue’ denouncing the management of the flames blistering through the smog-filled lead single, whistling winds reflecting a sense of emptiness before the layered vocals kick in — and created, like a lot of recent and up-coming releases, during a pandemic.
Yet to break the album down into social commentary is almost as big an injustice as the very ones it talks about. There’s the introspective surrender of ‘Walls’, ending with just a question — “is it over?”; the sinisterly determined ‘Parallel Lines’, its supposed inability to change belying the constant dynamic shifts; the explosive chugs of ‘Parted Time’, somehow self-empowering in its tempestuous fury; the contemplative, at-times falsetto ‘The Lakes of Twisted Limbs’.
Regarding what the album’s about, Joshua Cory had this to offer: “There can be no hope without despair, no love without loss; the chaos is the balance and we must bend toward its will, accepting the shadow as part of the light.”
This need to balance the light with the dark, the hope with despair, can be seen throughout. Whether it’s sonically, through the contrast between the burning Bunt and the comparatively calm Cory; dynamically, through the moments of peace shattered by the rage-fuelled drums; or narratively, such as in ‘Safer Here’ or Evergrowth’, the closest things to a ballad that the album has, the album relies on its contrasts, its equilibrium. These two in particular stand out as just plain different. ‘Safer Here’, piano twinkling in the background of beats that wouldn’t be out of place in a dance-floor-featured remix, and ‘Evergrowth’, the mournful, electro-tinged lament on love, with drums resounding and echoing into the nothingness, act as refuges for battered eardrums amidst the turmoil and (carefully harnessed) chaos of the other hardcore-bordering brutality of the rest of the album.
The album is brilliant. No song is just there to extend the run-time, no song is there just for the sake of it. Each track has its own distinct feel, it’s own auditory aesthetic, that keeps any and all of them as single contenders; even if at times the disparate vibes might seem a little jumbled, each track will have its fans and each fan will have their favourites. It’s just a shame that travel restrictions mean it’ll likely be a while before they grace our shores and play them live!
Words by James O’Sullivan
