In Hearts Wake are a metalcore band hailing from Australia. A noticeable difference to their contemporaries is that instead of tracks about relationships, on their debut album Discoveries they created a concept album about deep mysteries and meshed it with crushing breakdowns and a heavy sound reminiscent of fellow Aussies Parkway Drive. Their second album, Earthwalker, released in May 2014 continued along this path, including lyrics about the importance of the environment along with sing-along choruses. During the recording sessions for the record, they recorded material for their third album released earlier this year, Skydancer. This album is based around being at peace with both the masculine and feminine worlds and is eagerly anticipated in the metalcore scene, so the question is can they live up to these expectations?
The album opens up with ‘Aether’, featuring distorted, filtered drums and ambient clean guitar. It demonstrates their diversity, and then launches into the title track. It is well balanced in the mix, furthermore demonstrating some strong dual guitar harmonies, which help create the feeling of an open soundscape. Featuring Jonathan Vigil from The Ghost Inside, it brings a hardcore flavour to the album. This contrasts nicely with the clean vocals and the production is felt, as the guitars are allowed space to breathe, and the filtered lead guitars point to a progressive edginess.
‘Breakaway’ demonstrates Kyle Erich’s clean vocals strongly, and then transitions into a heavy chorus showing that the band have improved on their songwriting, constructing a track which hits hard on all fronts. Lyrically it is a step up as well, as it could describe their dissatisfaction with the war: “Haunted by the voices of the dead, you will never win the war or wash away the blood that has been shed / The hopeless crawl on their knees / And who will leave with compassion in their hands”, while ‘Badlands’ continues this with an atmospheric chorus which is reminiscent (if only very slightly) of Linkin Park’s vocalist Chester Bennington. During the lyric: “Your kingdom’s built to fall”, the powerful double kick makes for a crushing experience and fits in perfectly with the mood.
‘Oblivion’, an interlude, is an instrumental. It consists of a heavy guitar tone combined with some atmospheric overlapping parts, complimenting the track nicely. Following on from this, ‘Wildfire’ takes the album off the pace slightly because the vocal delivery is weak for the most part, however at the same time it contains some luscious panning in the bridge, which is relaxing. ‘Erase’ features further guest spots from Ben Marvin and J Hurley from the rap metal band Hacktivist. This works well because the rapping contrasts nicely with the clean vocals, building up to an infectious chorus.
The final track, ‘Father’ brings the tone down and is a fitting ending to the album. It begins with a piano, and then a spoken word piece containing some thought provoking lyrics: “Man did not weave the web of life, he is simply a strand in it / Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself”. The atmospheric piano rounds things off in a calm fashion, allowing the listener to take everything in.
In Hearts Wake have continued to show that they are not afraid to diversify their album with some interesting guest vocalists, and Skydancer is a strong offering due to its atmospheric soundscapes and well-crafted musicianship.
Words by Ermis Madikopoulos
Photo by Kane Hibberd