Statues – “Together We’re Alone” [Album Review]

Chaotic hardcore is a genre I can take or leave, really, but there is a moment early on in “All Fears Are Learned, All Victories Are Earned” where the chaos created by Statues drops into a section so painstakingly precise and jaw-droppingly heavy that it just all gels together into something really special.

You see, chaotic hardcore by nature is fucking mayhem, but Statues have really managed to pin it all together with parts so chock-full of crunchy, moshy metal that you can’t help but be dragged into the sound. Of course, for the most part, Together We’re Alone is an abrasive, nasty noise. Pierce through Jayme Van Keulen’s throat-scraping vocals and, underneath the screams, there is the voice of a man pouring everything into his dark, honest, emotional words.

Of course, just as you get accustomed to the feral mayhem of tracks like “Foreseeing The Cloud And Not The Rain,” Statues throw you a little bit of a curve ball with the simple, almost spoken-word “I Want Peace”. Don’t worry though, this respite is soon over as Van Keuelen heralds the start of “Abide” with the sort of howl that leaves you in no uncertain terms as to what Statues are really about.

Of course, it would be easy for Statues to fill the remainder of Together We’re Alone with just more of the same face-smashing hardcore, so they throw another curve ball in the form of “Hope Is,” a track which would be more suited to a Cowboy movie than a hardcore show. Still, they sign off in fine style blazing through “Within Arm’s Reach” and leaving a trail of devastation in their wake.

Track Listing:

01. All Fears Are Learned, All Victories Are Earned
02. Always Building, Always Breaking
03. Oh Precious Commodity
04. Forseeing the Cloud and Not the Rain
05. Affliction Prescription
06. I Want Peace
07. Abide
08. Burning the Truth At Both Ends
09. The Wanderer
10. Hard Words, Softly Spoken
11. Hope Is
12. Within Arm’s Reach

Run Time: 37:51
Release Date: January 9, 2015

Check out the song “Oh Precious Commodity” here.