Apollo Stands – Interstellar
Release Date: 5th November 2021
Label: Self Released
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Genre: UK Progressive Metal
FFO: Megalomatic, Setraline, Eveline’s Dust, Fingers Crossed.
Review By: Séamus Patrick Burke
Aim for the stars. Isn’t that well they told us when we were young, before life stomped on all of us with a big fat boot? Good news is that in-between endless bills and crippling debt, good music is still coming out, despite what others may say.
Apollo Stands has been surprisingly cagey when pushed to describe their latest LP, Interstellar. Press releases mention objective facts like when their last LP came out, or who they’ve shared the stage with, or who’s currently in the line-up. When actually describing their music or what to expect from Interstellar, they go refreshingly broad, referencing only genres that have influenced them rather than specific artists. Metal is touted, yes, but so is drum-and-bass, and so are film scores.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, album intro “Void” sounds very similar to a John Carpenter soundtrack, so we know they’re not messing around. You don’t really imagine a man with a knife chasing you when you listen to it, though. Rather, it’s used to build suspense, to build tension. Apollo Stands wants you to know that you’re in for something.
Alexei Swatman pulls double-duty with keyboards and guitar, and his sense of production is perhaps crucial to the album’s character. The synths glisten and bubble for most of the record, like you’re either about to launch into space or finally see a Feature Presentation on public television. There’s a turn towards the moody though on “Hive”, helped immensely by Matt Hayward on bass. Swatman is no slouch with guitar, however. He and fellow guitarist Olly Smith fall into twin leads surprisingly well, as they show on “Pickup” and album closer “The Arbiter”.
One thing that Apollo Stands definitely has to be commended for is variety, both in tone and tempo. We’ll take all the down-tuned riffs and blast beats you have in the tank, but making them all the same tempo or even the same key. It’d be wrong to call Interstellar short, despite only being seven songs long. Yet at no point do the songs feel bogged down or monotonous, either from song length or tempo. Apollo Stands knows how to duck and weave between moods, almost like set-pieces of a film. Dare we call it cinematic?
Ry Hase’s vocals certainly know how to ebb and weave like a film soundtrack. “Please Wait” has plenty of crooning, but then he reaches full wind tunnel level on the bridge of “Synthetic”. His performance on “Hive” goes full Voice of the Legion. It doesn’t all work, like the spoken word segments on lead single “Pick Up”, even if the rest of the song rocks hard enough to make up for it (somewhat).
In a refreshing change of pace, Interstellar stands on its own well enough that there’s very little to nitpick. A tight album by a tight band who’s put effort into honing their craft and building their audience. What more could you want? If we must, though, the guitar and drum production can sound a bit generic, even if the performances are fantastic. This is a bigger symptom of high gain rock as we know it now, though. Get a different amp and record the drums slightly differently, problem solved.
Interstellar is a tight, cinematic experience of a metal album that truly deserves to be called “cinematic”. Apollo Stands are willing to put in the work and take away the best from their influences, and we’re excited to see what they do next. They’re reaching for the stars and may yet be halfway there.
(4.5 / 5)
