Australasia - Sin4tr4 Album Review

rating:4

Having a band or song named after a group of countries often works well and here with Australasia it's no different. The band name intrigues you, and the album title is somewhat unpronounceable. I'm still trying to figure it out, but could they be trying to say SinAtrA, or a type of 4x4 off-roader? With a name like Australasia you would expect them to hale from Australia, New Zealand or a country from that region of the world, but you would all be wrong. They are in fact an Italian duo combining Gian on guitar and Rico on drums. Along with these two main instruments we hear various synths throughout, which aid in enhancing the songs and make them more complete. The album is an instrumental one which works well in the setting of the music at hand here. It isn't quite metal, nor is it rock, it is a bizarre mix of some Protest the Hero drumming, Between the Buried and Me's guitaring on their slower tracks, a slight dusting of Avenged Sevenfold of old, a smattering of Dream Theater's playing style and some synths which belong with Duran Duran. The EP as a whole is a small 7 tracker showing off the pair's musical talents. After a few playthroughs the sounds they have created almost sound like an OST from an action movie. The songs here would fit well into something like the Bourne trilogy or potentially a Zombie horror. The tracks have real depth and if you imagine them as part of a film they almost seem to fit perfectly. However for a general release, maybe not the most marketable rock/metal hybrid out there. You could easily head bang to it, no question, but without any proper vocals (there are some audio snippets and ooo's on Scenario and Apnea respectively) the songs struggle to stand up to other bands in this highly competitive genre. So what did I like? I would the song Satellite is say my favourite. It is one of the calmer tracks from the album and features a steady slow drumbeat, futuristic guitar sounds which then lead into a carefully created slow guitar section and then everything is joined together with 80's style synths at the climax. It could easily go into the film "I Am Legend" where Will Smith blows up his lab right at the end to save the mother and son, or within the TV series "The Walking Dead". I personally think that Australasia should look into writing music for both films and TV series, as their style would suit a large majority of the productions we see as an audience. http://youtu.be/R7juxkQvnWw Overall, it is hard to rate an experimental instrumental rock/metal album. As with the nature of experimental music it is about trying something new and getting a new sound out there. I like slightly more progressive rock, and this EP condenses that into 23 minutes quite nicely. The songs flow excellently into one another and the entire EP is a brilliant listen. However I would recommend this EP to the more hardcore listener of post-rock/post-metal instrumental bands as for a first time listener it is not what you would expect when you see the words metal and rock flung together. All in all, I liked this EP. It wasn't what I was expecting and a pleasant surprise.