Venues
Transience – Arising Empire
It’s always a promising start when one band member is credited with ‘clean vocals’ and
another with, simply, ‘shouts’. ‘Transience’ has a mythical sound created with layers of
guitars and ethereal vocals. A very f****ed up fairytale style, granted, but technical and
stylish guitars, insane drumming, and these ‘shouts’ we’re so fond of mentioning create a
mesmerising sonic structure. The instruments and vocals turn brutal (notably in ‘Braille’ and
‘Oblivion’) before becoming sweet and melodic, which kinda contrast good and evil in the
way magical mystical tales often do. Intrigued? If course! Every track on this German
metalcore quartet’s new release is a curiously delightful blend of octave-soaring singing,
angry dude yelling and technical wizardry on the drums and guitars. ‘Transience’ sounds
huge. It’s clearly been lovingly and carefully crafted. Many of its emotions are raw but the
finished product is far from it. ‘Transience’ is worthy of your precious time.
Review by Jo Wright