The latest single from A Day in Pompeii has arrived and with it comes the band's classic staple feels along with something a little different. This release to me, keeps to a lot of the band's metal tonalities but also brings in this sort of refreshing and a little bit more aggressive East Coast hardcore approach as well and I absolutely love this because it adds to the emotional drive of the song itself.
"Wildwood" brings in that killer combination of deepening heaviness and some powerful and belting melodic vocal approaches, but it also blends in that fierce screaming and these great sort of breakdowns and open chords that give it more of a thrashing hardcore feel.
This track is super lively and it's the energy that packs that level of a punch for me, but it also brings to mind a lot of the bands that I grew up listening to as I indeed grew up on the East Coast listening to a lot of metal and hardcore bands.
A lot of the time A Day in Pompeii releases tracks that are amazing with a lot of intricate progressions, crazy riffs, and memorable sections that all turn out to be impactful.
The same goes here but again, this one has more of an open thrashing kind of feel that lends more to punk and hardcore than it does just to metal or alternative.
It makes you want a mosh more than usual. It makes you want to jump around the room, but it also makes you want to sing along with your fists in the air as well and I think that's something special.
Now, having said all that, the deeper into the song you go the more you find some of those bigger more orchestral parts coming in and this adds layers to the track that weren't there before, but it works perfectly.
You're getting some surprises during this track and it's actually a pretty big song spanning over 5 minutes and that's because it's got these great changes in progressions involved.
I think I just love the fact that they were able to bring in that classic hardcore feel with the staple heavier metal intricacies that the band usually portrays.
The combination of those two things is stellar and it does add a different kind of energy to the approach and feel of the song.
They always give you songs that make you want to headbang or rock out alongside them, but this one makes you want to go see them live just to see that energy in your face.
The vocalist is ridiculous. She is amazing on this track, and you can hear layers upon layers of harmonizing soulful and bountiful vocals along with some of that screaming which I find to be pretty outstanding.
She can shape her character to the shape of the song and that is something unique in a vocalist.
She does more than you would expect and adds so much more depth and drive to the song complementing the rest of what the band is doing perfectly.
As I mentioned before, we're not really strangers to this band and have reviewed some of their stuff before. I definitely can say that I love this direction and how it shows that they can bring in all these different influences into their songwriting and still make it work flawlessly.
The production as usual, is insane. The mix is something that is imperative with songs like this and a lot of people don't like to talk about the mix of songs, however with this track I really think I should because it plays a heavy hand in the end aesthetic of the track and how it turned out.
Not only can you hear everything because it's so completely balanced but the snare drum and the vocals are pretty much the two loudest things in the song which is exactly where it needs to be with a heavy banger like this one.
Believe me, there's a lot of vocals going on here and they're still not overdone. Everything is done tastefully but with energy and passion.
Dive into the song, turn it nice and loud, and rock out but then, absolutely go and listen to the rest of their back catalog on Spotify at least because if you dig the song you're going to dig everything they have to offer.
This is a brand new track to go check it out right now.
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