Australian groovecore quintet Down Royale recently released their highly anticipated debut full length album, Sway, through Convergence Records.
This band from down under are fast tipping the metal genre on it’s head, pushing their ideas and concepts further than ever before with Sway whilst setting a new standard for modern heavy metal. ”There are a lot of great but also different moments on this album” muses guitarist Jackson Cheng, ”We hope to surprise everyone with the new songs”.
The thing we at Hit The Floor liked most about this eleven-track album is the ability that it has to keep you guessing. The feel of each song is entirely different from the previous, dragging you from the fast-paced, heavy technicality of tracks such as ‘Shadow State’ before plunging you head first into the hauntingly melancholic introduction of the title track, ‘Sway’. Sometimes straying a little over the five minute mark; some of the tracks have a slightly repetitive feel, but because the record is generally well composed, produced and written, this is easily forgiven.
It’s a little difficult to get the full measure and personality of a band when each song on the record sounds so different. Despite this, there’s no doubting that the band’s experimental approach to this album has produced some impressive musicianship to get your metal-loving teeth stuck into. The guitars are super tight, catchy hooks are ever-present and vocalist Clint Baker‘sscreams are guttural, but clear as a bell. However, if there’s something that is really to be commended after listening to this album, then it really has to be Mitchell Fogarty‘sdrumming, which displays some serious finesse and takes center stage on virtually every track.
We have to agree with Cheng: surprising is a pretty spot-on adjective to use where this album is concerned. Sway is a step into more experimental territory for the band, but we must say that they’re wearing it pretty well. If you like your metal technical and your drumming tighter than Keira Knightley’s corset in Pirates of the Caribbean, then give it a spin, because this band is only going to get more solid.
