Polaris - 'The Mortal Coil' Album Review

Tracklist:

1. Lucid

2. The Remedy

3. Relapse

4. Consume

5. Frailty

6. In Somnus Veritas

7. Dusk To Day

8. Casualty

9. The Slow Decay

10. Crooked Path

11. Sonder

The album starts by introducing the drums, vocals come in and the guitar rhythm. This pricks your ears up and makes you want to know what’s going to happen next with the hard hitting intro song “Lucid”. This song showcases what’s to expect from Polaris in the next 42 minutes.

Next we smash into “The Remedy”, this seems to have the same structure to “Lucid” but a little but more catchy in the chorus. The vocals are clearer so you are able to really grasp hold of the lyrics and understand what they mean to the band.

'The Mortal Coil' is well managed by Sharptone Records but as we reach “Relapse” and “Consume” the hard then soft vocal change doesn’t seem as appealing as it did many moons ago. The band have glimpses of talent throughout the album. I feel like it’s something that should be drawn out of the band members in the album with the experience they have behind them.

Deep meaningful lyrics is something the Post Hardcore scene craves for and you get this with “Dusk To Day”. The suffering and struggles of every day life isn’t the few, it’s the many. That’s the understanding I take from the lyrics “This sinking feeling is keeping me awake”.

With more of the same soft to hard vocal changes coming from “Casualty” and “Crooked Path” the album starts to feel dated. The bass pedal stands out in most songs and keeps the tempo high, this is shown in “The Slow Decay” which is a more of a Metalcore song so it breaks up the boring soft vocals, that I feel are not needed on the album.

The last song is the best on the LP, it’s not often you hear that! “Sonder” starts with a slow guitar riff then you hear that prominent bass pedal, the rough vocals come in and there is a building of tension....the crash symbol is hit with energy and vocals are screamed. You can hear the connection between the band through every single note. The Mortal Coil has shown the potential it had in just one song.

Overall Polaris have created an album which isn’t new, isn’t fresh but it’s something from the heart. Strong singles can be made out of the album and with the right production the next album will see Polaris rise to the top.