Matahari’s debut album ‘Shameless’ feels decidedly retro. The album brings to mind numerous melodic hardcore bands from the mid 00s. The occasional slow-burning experiment in lumbering tempos aside, ‘Shameless’ builds upon a foundation of the corpses of bands such as Ruiner, Go It Alone and Life Long Tragedy. Meanwhile, the occasional metallic guitar riff and, in some places, the amped up aggression, are signs of additional, dated metalcore influences. It is sadly plagued by several problems – most of all the feeling that someone, somewhere, and quite some time ago, has done this better.
Frustratingly, ‘Shameless’ occupies a middle ground. Riffs and motifs tend to sound alike and blur into one another, thus muting their effect; or else, they fail to evoke any sort of emotional reaction whatsoever. ‘Anyone’ fails to get the heart pumping in its quickened first half, while its slowed second half is not as intense or climactic as it should be. The same goes for much of the album: it fails to excite or hold attention. Furthermore, the distorted tone used throughout obscures the music, rather than empowers it. Atop this muddied, moderate instrumentation the vocals work within an even narrower range. Furthermore, they are exasperatingly overbearing, distracting attention away from any faint signs of interesting musicianship. The angst-ridden melodrama of the lyrics (“When my life was set on fire, I tied the noose around my neck”, being the most offensive line here) also falls flat and is awkward rather than direct.
‘Shameless’ is not completely beyond redemption though. When Matahari allow their tracks to open up there are faint traces of improvement. ‘Hopeless’ allows space for bright, half-bar metallic guitar licks to punctuate the dreary death-march, and makes the track a cut above the others. Elsewhere, flirtations with sludgier tempos and demeanours are slightly more effective. ‘Widower’, for example, caves in on itself midway through, pitching a despairing guitar solo against heavy, churning chords. The five-minute, two-parted ‘Dethbarrier’ pulls a similar trick. Halfway through, a gratuitous drum fill pours out into a new, relatively atmospheric section. Unfortunately though, these tracks are generally interesting because of textural diversity, because of the mild differences between sections – not because the riffs or motifs themselves are particularly engaging.
‘Shameless’ is thus riddled with problems. Mid-tempo, stony-faced dirges, inexpressive riffing, and monotonous, barked lyrical melodrama typify the album and so it is rarely exciting or evocative. The peripheral ‘00’s metalcore influences could have been an interesting addition to an album indebted to ‘00’s melodic hardcore. However, this aspect to their sound is not explored too far. What is here remains similarly conservative and middling. ‘Shameless’ is sadly more inspired than inspiring.
RICHARD CRAIG