ALBUM REVIEW: "The Mortal Coil" by Polaris

The Mortal Coil is a damn fine debut album from Sydneysiders Polaris, who have been doing the rounds for almost five years now. Most independent EPs fly under almost everyone's radars, but 2016's The Guilt & The Grief EP threw them right into the limelight of the music scene, giving them an ARIA charts berth and a whole lot of attention. I was actually lucky enough to see them supporting Stories (R.I.P.) back in February of 2016 at the Red Rattler in Sydney during that EP cycle, and boy oh boy do they know their way around a stage.
So naturally I was excited for their debut full length The Mortal Coil. And it's just fine. If you liked the riffs on The Guilt & The Grief, their better on The Mortal Coil. Jamie Hails' voice is better, Jake Steinhauser's singing soars and sits nicely in the mix, the breakdowns are bigger and the production is slicker. If you like your metalcore bouncy, fun and a little bit technical (but not too beard-strokey) then this is the album for you - it's kind of like if Periphery and their second husband Northlane had a baby with Limp Bizkit.
For me I found The Mortal Coil too much of a retread to be really exciting, though. The songs are well written, the playing is tight, the breakdowns are cool, but it really is just another metalcore record (a very solid one), even with some distinct nu-metal influences thrown in there. What Polaris have managed to achieve, though, is make a very distinctly metalcore sounding album that also sounds distinctly Polaris. This is something that I still have a hard time understanding, because at first glance this seems like a contradictory statement. But somehow Polaris make the recycled ideas and motifs of the genre sound fresh again; they chew them up and spit them out again as something uniquely Polaris.
So was I completely enamoured with The Mortal Coil? As much as I wanted to be, no I wasn't. But it is a damn solid album, no doubt about it. I only wish that with future releases the band becomes more comfortable with relying on the things that make them stand out from the rest of the crowd, because these are the things that mad
e me excited to hear more from them.

Favourite Songs: The Remedy, The Slow Decay and Sonder

Least Favourite Song: Consume

Rating: B+

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