French five-piece outfit Los Disidentes Del Sucio Motel release their fourth long player after several years of quiet. This is a band that is a little hard to pigeon hole from a genre point of view. “Polaris” finds them stretching out and moving forward with their sound.
The proggy nature of this album is immediately apparent on “Blood-Planet Child” with its circular rhythm that develops into a punchy, lurching epic. Clean vocals soar above making for some compelling listening. A Metallica styled, super chunky riff on “Dark Matter” keeps things lively before swathes of psychedelic warmth come in on “Blue Giant”.
There’s a commercial accessibility on “The Plague” which is faster paced and has a more contemporary sound which comes across like the album’s anthem track. A sense of urgency arrives on “Alpha Ursae Minoris” with a pummelling riff and nice changes of pace but it’s tracks like the atmospheric and warm “Earthrise” and its introspective mood and layers of sound where the band shines. Beautifully built with just the right amount of heavy to offset the lightness, it’s an excellent piece. Shades of Soundgarden on “The Key” make for a rich, big sound while they release their inner Pink Floyd on “Horizon”. A lot of passion is on display throughout as an almost melancholy feeling on “The Great Filter” closes the album.
“Polaris” is a beautifully crafted album that is indeed genre defying. Not what you’d call an uber heavy piece it has a rich, compelling sound that’s worth checking out.
(7/10 Johnny Zed)
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