When I first heard Astronoid’s debut record Air, I was spellbound. Their particular brand of genre-bending heavy metal (which they call “dream thrash”) had all of the punishing heaviness of traditional thrash but with an tender, life-affirming heart. It’s blast beats and hairspray-soaked guitar solos were paired with dreamy melodies and anthemic harmonies.
But knowing that lightning rarely strikes the same place twice, I was a little apprehensive when I saw they were releasing a new record. Could the gimmick really pay off again?
The answer is, “yes, and handsomely.”
Astronoid takes everything that Air got right and builds on it. It has all the same blistering riffage and gentle melodies, and nearly every guitar solo is performed by two guitars in harmony. But where Air was a little bit samey, Astronoid expands the palette a bit. The third track, “Lost,” is sparser than anything they’ve done before, with clean, reverb-drenched guitars dancing in the atmosphere above a tight groove from the rhythm section. “I Wish I Was There When The Sun Set” opens with the heaviest riff they’ve ever written. “Beyond The Scope” creates a dark atmosphere of industrial-sounding synths before coming in with a plodding march.
But through all of their varying tempos and dynamics, the group never leaves their melodic sensibilities. Brett Boland’s vocals are cleaner than clean, delivered without any hint of aggression. At times, the melodies are even reminiscent of the emo and pop punk bands I grew up listening to, like Jimmy Eat World, Blink-182, and Rufio (note: all of that is high praise).
I’ve listened through this record about ten times now, and each listen is more rewarding than the last. While Air was a brilliant reappropriation of thrash conventions, Astronoid proves that their sound is more than an experiment in genre-hopping.