Starset

There is a sub-theme to this album which we can deal with in a minute. Suffice to say that from the first moments to the last my pulse rate was hammering and I was knocked back in my seat by the sheer blast of sound emanating from the speakers – the last time I was aurally assaulted like this was when I first heard Enter Shikari.

The core of the band is Dustin Bates (ex-Downplay) and his passionate and impassioned vocals are the fulcrum around which the maelstrom of music whirls. Joe Rickards drums hammer like artillery assault and Bates, Rob Graves and Josh Baker guitars are at once powerful and fluid with slashing riffs and rolling blasts. Set this against real strings and clever programming and you have an album that has twists and turns, huge soundscapes and more changes than Lady Gaga’s dressing room.

The album is actually designed to promote the Starset Society and their message that a scientific discovery that could enable the civilization of Earth to reach the stars is being suppressed and controlled by an elite few. The music is suitably high-reaching and works on the emotions and the spirit like few modern metal albums do but the themes don’t overplay the sounds so you are still left the music to dig.

The album should be listened to as a piece rather than cherry picking for standouts as the individual tracks seem to be lessened by singularity – the exception is ‘My Demons’ which was released as a single and works as a statement in its own right.

I’m not convinced by the mysterious Starset Society but the album is a great piece of modern melodic metal.