Music Review

Polaris – The Mortal Coil – Album Review

Polaris - The Mortal Coil - Album Review

Polaris – The Mortal Coil Album Cover. Retrieved from https://polarisaus.bandcamp.com/album/the-mortal-coil

Polaris has an excellent record of bringing powerful tracks in each one of their albums. Their debut of full-length album The Mortal Coil, released on November 2017, puts Australia in the Metalcore’s world map. The band announced this release on November 2017. This album review explores the artist’s songwriting process as well as the amazing sonic features of this album. This quintet from Sydney began performing in or around 2013. They released their first EP titled Dichotomy in 2013 and followed up with a second EP titled The Guilt & the Grief in 2015. Both EPs were independent releases and are available for streaming on Spotify.

Polaris: Meet the Band

Polaris. Left to right: Ryan Siew (guitar), Jake Steinhauser (bass guitar), Jamie Hails (vocals), Rick Schneider (guitar) & Daniel Funari (drums) - Polaris - The Mortal Coil - Album Review

Polaris. Left to right: Ryan Siew (guitar), Jake Steinhauser (bass guitar), Jamie Hails (vocals), Rick Schneider (guitar) & Daniel Funari (drums). Retrieved from https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/Polaris_2019_Landscape.jpg

Album Cover

The Mortal Coil’s album cover shows a woman sinking into a deep body of water. Rose petals follow her as she drops down to her watery grave. A pocket watch previously held by the woman also sinks with her and the rose petals. This brings her feeling of giving up and despairing. Hopelessness is part of some of song’s lyrics for this album. But the inner fight become each song’s main subject.

Album’s Song List

Three Awesome Tracks

Lucid – The first track of the album sets the mood to what’s coming up. It is a powerful, loud, and emotional. Lyrics explore the thoughts of those fighting to stay and feel alive. The Remedy – The second track hooked me in right away. It holds a memorable riff and powerful performance, making it my favorite song of this record. Relapse – This is the album’s trademark song for me. The songwriting, rhythm base and complex guitar work enchants everyone listening to it.

Lucid – Promotional Music Video

Critical and Analytical Listening

Understanding what makes a song good or bad implies listening to it a few times and checking how we feel about it. My analysis uses three different tools supporting my feelings about a song or album. I use an algorithmic tool to visualize audio features. Following, I learn about the song’s structure, chord progression and how the melodic and dynamic contour interact. Last, I place the single or album in an imaginary music market. I combine placement strategies, product advantages and market analysis to find the volume of the ideal target audience. Often, we just buy a song we like and that’s pretty much it. I do it, but my decision to buy a record is emotional. Music connects to me and vice versa. This emotional connection is what makes me buy an album. However, there’s some science behind that connection and this analysis gives an understanding of why a song or album appeals to us. Let’s begin the analysis and find out what I personally like Relapse by Polaris the most.

Sonic Features and Comparison

Sonic Features - Polaris - The Mortal Coil - Album Review

Sonic features are 2019-2020 Copyright Campani Music. All Rights Reserved

Sonic Features Comparison - Relapse by Polaris and On Wings of Lead by Bleeding Through. Polaris - The Mortal Coil - Album Review

Sonis Features. 2019-2020 Copyright Campani Music. All Rights Reserved

Relapse – The Mortal Coil by Polaris – Sonic Features Relapse’s sonic characteristics explain why I like this song the most. As an old-school punk, I enjoy the evolution of punk rock and hardcore. I also followed many crossover bands back in the early to mid-80’s. Metalcore is one of the offspring. I like mid-tempo songs as I listen to my music mainly while driving. Furthermore, I like high-energy songs with low to mid intensity and a great vocal and instrumental performance. When comparing my taste in Metalcore, we find that the sonic characteristics match my taste. This is not a headbanger’s song but has a strong tempo. Relapse is intense and loud. Lyrics are not as melodic as I usually like but the chorus carries melody that appeals to me.
Compared to On Wings of Lead by Bleeding Through When comparing Relapse to one of my favorite Metalcore songs by Bleeding Through, the sonic features are similar. Relapse’s tempo is a little faster, but the remaining features are almost identical. Both bands share the same music genre and have powerful songs that compete head-to-head. Also, both bands share a similar fan base. So, what does it means? If you love Bleeding Through, you’ll also love Polaris.

Relapse by Polaris – Lyrics

We find very emotional lyrics describing two possible struggles. The first is the constant fight against depression and the second is also the constant fight of getting sober and clean. Both are wars that unravel in our mind and both lack a visual ending on the horizon. The lyrics describes a person feeling hopeless in this fight. The mind battles with him as he hopes to sleep it off and “wake up when it’s over.”

The Mortal Coil’s – My Rating

Sonic Features - Polaris - The Mortal Coil - Album Rating: 4.5

Production: 4.75
Musicality: 5
Lyrics: 4.25
Performance: 4.75
Accessibility: 4
Emotional Connection: 4.5

Find out more about Polaris:

Website: http://polarisaus.com.au/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/polarisaus
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/polarisaus/

Resist Records: http://www.resistrecords.com/
SharpTone Records: https://sharptonerecords.co/collections/polaris

Bandcamp: https://polarisaus.bandcamp.com/
BandsInTown: https://www.bandsintown.com/a/20615-polaris?came_from=242
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSs38VPbAqfnf2nX5h4FuDw

References:

December 9, 2019by Mario Campani
Written by Mario Campani
An entrepreneur and visionary, Campani merges the Old and New Music Business models through synergy. This principle nurtures a dominant trend for independent artists to succeed.