On their third album, these Gold Coast boys have grown and developed from a relatively basic, dredgy stoner-ish rock band into a fully fledged heavy progressive rock act. And while their earlier material was certainly very strong, it’s a very welcoming evolution.
These guys have obviously said to themselves ‘to hell with convention, and trying to get onto commercial radio and appeal to a mainstream audience’ whilst writing this album. They’ve gone in the complete opposite direction and constructed an album to please themselves, and for this they are to be lauded and admired.
They have wound themselves out big time here. The tunes are almost all long, heavy and dynamic, with many twists and turns and non traditional song structures. Consequently, the album, similarly to Karnivool’s Asymmetry, takes a fair amount of time and patience to completely get your head around it. But, also like the latest from Perth’s finest, if you give it room to grow in your estimations, the rewards are great. There is bone crunching rock, titanic grooves and blood curdling vocals on Panthalassa, but there is also melody and beauty.
The landscape in alternative and progressive rock in Australia is as fertile as can be imagined, bursting forth with world class quality, and fans are being treated to a seemingly never ending procession of superb releases. Panthalassa is absolutely one of them.
BY ROD WHITFIELD
Best Track: Endless Storm
If You Like These, You’ll Like This: KARNIVOOL, SOUNDGARDEN, COG
In A Word: Huge
