Seattle-based indie rockers, Calm Collapse, are gearing up for their latest record Mirrored Nature with the release of the leading single “Welfare Tour”. Full of heavy riffs and distorted ambience, the song gives us a lot to look forward to as an oracle of what’s to come.
“Welfare Tour” feels consistently off-kilter when it comes to its rhythmic foundations, which gives the song an elastic kind of feel. While it has punchy, staccato moments, it never settles into a singular place opting to allow itself the space to morph and change shape in a myriad of ways. It’s a thrilling ride from top to bottom and its level of replay comes from the sheer amount of content that weaved into one song.
“Even though a lot of our album is on the heavier side, we did not want to trap ourselves in,” says guitarist and vocalist Doug Lorig. “The album goes in several directions — we did not want to follow the common things that heavy bands seem to do. We all had a common goal to write songs that had movement and took us places.”
This is the kind of alternative metal that resembles the mindset of TOOL. There may be some verse-chorus structures to help find some grounding for the listener, but it is the longer musical breaks that feel tumultuous and wild that give the song a sense of identity that is unique. Calm Collapse does a good job of taking the jam aspects of prog music (rock and metal), but with a very clear roadmap that brings everything around full circle; nothing about it feels superfluous or extra. Again, as an indication of what to expect from Mirrored Nature, this is a momentous effort that is sure to excite rock and metal fans.
“Welfare Tour” is available now on major streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, BandCamp, and on the Alchemical Records Multigenre Mixture playlist on Spotify and YouTube.
Charlie Maybee is a dancer, musician, educator, and writer based in Charleston, South Carolina who currently teaches with the Dance Program at the College of Charleston. His primary work as an artist is with his performing collective, Polymath Performance Project, through which he makes interdisciplinary performance art that centers tap dance as the primary medium of expression and research. He also currently plays rhythm guitar for the Charleston-based punk band, Anergy, and releases music as a solo artist under the name Nox Eterna.
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Alchemical Records is a Washington, D.C. based music publication. We cover the Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Richmond, VA metro area music scenes, including band interviews, articles about your favorite musicians, new music and concert dates.
