South Wales five-piece Antarctica formed from the wreckage of a previous band, Calling Apollo, when four members regrouped with vocalist Alyn Tamlin to build something new. “Fragments,” out June 19th, is their latest statement, recorded at guitarist Kevin Williams’ own studio, Signal and the Noise, in Barry – the first time the band has had the time and space to record fully on their own terms. Mixed by Tom Williams of Delour under the guidance of producer Romesh Dodangoda, the track draws from mid-2000s post-hardcore titans like Saosin, Funeral for a Friend, and Thrice, and the band has been building real momentum to back it up: a support slot with Godsticks in Swansea, a headline appearance at Everywhere All at Once in mid-Wales, and BBC Radio airplay on previous single “Deadweight” via Alyx Holcombe and Adam Walton. The song itself is about what’s left of you after the worst moments – relationships breaking down, stress piling up – and the work of reassembling those pieces into something sturdier than before.
The song starts with a particularly nasty breakdown, which is a bold creative choice – starting with a dynamically high point – but it did work in capturing my attention and pulling me into this emotional journey. The band does a great job of creating that emotional and quite angsty wall of sound that’s a signature of the genre, with the intricate guitar work and crushing rhythm section locking in tightly behind it. I think the unique tonal characteristics of Alyn’s voice set the band apart in quite an oversaturated market of metalcore – there’s a specific grain to the delivery that keeps it from blending into the genre’s wallpaper, even when the surrounding instrumentation is doing exactly what’s expected of it.
With “Fragments,” Antarctica are making a clear case for themselves in a crowded scene, and the fact that they recorded it entirely on their own terms shows in the confidence with which the whole thing sounds. The band is currently booking further UK dates for late summer and autumn, and on the strength of this single, those rooms should be worth catching.
