Survive Atlantica - I Woke The Devil [Album]

A Wolf At Your Door Records

November 9, 2009, 10:03 PM

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by catshoe [More from this Author]

Survive Atlantica are a young band, a new band that have only been together two years. "I Woke The Devil" is their first album and you'd never know it. From the assured swagger to the minor sonic boom that kicks this off, there is big noise that comes swirling across at us here. I generally avoid using tossy terms like 'sonic landscapes' but this feels wide and windswept, like the ocean scenes of the album artwork.

The album artwork itself is worth a mention - dare I say it's a work of art? I left it lying round the kitchen and this attracted just so much attention. My dear mother, a lady in her sixties, came visiting and was instantly drawn to the gatefold and then demanded to know what it was all about. It looks like it's going to be opera till you read the track titles, at which point I was having kittens expecting a concept album. Remember those? Thankfully this was no prog rock opus, just a solidly sequenced, well produced thing worth listening to.

Lead singer James Kellegher has at least three distinct voices through this record, no bad trick to keep us all interested. On album opener '17:02' it's all warm glow, tucked in amongst some righteous and effective lyrical repetition. Altogether now - "they say your heart is still beating - beating - beating - they say your heart is still beating" - I was already much more impressed than I ever thought I was going to be.

Track two - 'I am?' starts off all acoustic ballad, emo credentials on sleeve. It has what sounds like simple semi-acoustic guitar jangling along and a folky feel like Led Zeppelin used to have at times. Until that is, James' voice falls off the edge off a cliff to a strangulated hoarse croak. Like a kid crying and shouting in his bedroom, hoping someone will hear and come to comfort him. A slight screech of feedback presages the tsunami hitting the shore, a wave of full blown rock worthy of the lament.

There's a rich full quality threaded right through this, whoever produced it has brought out the best in this young band. Sleeve credits are shared between the band themselves and Adam Fuest. They should pat themselves on the back.

Track three is a tad pretentiously titled - 'His Name Was Arthur Leigh Ann' - but don't let that put you off. This is the one that brings along the third voice of James. All vulnerable, open estuarine accent, affected and slightly touching. I'm a very biased and prejudiced listener. My CD collection bears witness that most indie / bloke-alike male vocals bore me rigid, but these guys are pulling it off very nicely. I've had this round the block four or five times and it's holding up really well, I'm enjoying it. At a couple of points further in I'm not quite sure about the croaking over bass and drums, not sure if it was too much, but there have to be counterpoints, so I'll take it as part of the whole experience. It adds up.

'Circuits and the Sea' is perhaps the most akin to MOR AOR, you could imagine it as a background to something on the TV, but the production and the sound envelope (if there is such a thing?) pulls it through nicely. 'Colour of Voices' starts with a slow-ish feel, is this maybe the chill-out room of the album?

"I Woke The Devil" continues in this high quality vein, the right side of bombast but not afraid of the conventionalities of what used to be called heavy rock. Queue kettle drums and portentousness, in the best possible way. It's by no means perfect but I could get down nicely to this in a front row somewhere, I'd probably need a head scarf to do it justice though, just to embarrass my family.

1. 17:02
2. I Am?
3. His Name Was Arthur Leigh Ann
4. We're All Shipwrecked
5. Epilogue
6. Circuits and the Sea
7. Colour of Voices
8. Interlude
9. I Woke the Devil
10. Meds