Hail the Sun – New Age Filth
Release Date: 16th April 2021
Label: Rude/ Equal Vision
Buy/Stream
Genre: Math rock, Post-Hardcore, Progressive Rock.
FFO: The Mars Volta, Coheed and Cambria, The Fall of Troy.
Review By: Jonathon Hopper
Legend has it that the term ‘math rock’ was coined by a friend of Matt Sweeney (guitarist with Chavez and Billy Corgan’s Zwan) as a derogatory put down for a project he was working on at the time. Well, what may have started as a joke over the passage of time has certainly multiplied (geddit…? It’s funny ‘cos… oh, never mind) with bands like Shellac, Mars Volta and the Fall of Troy going on to carve out a significant niche for themselves.
And coming up fast in their slipstream come Californians Hail the Sun whose fifth album New Age Filth opens with Domino – a spiralling whirlwind punctuated by Donovan Melero’s staccato drums and fragile vocals.
Slander follows, swinging dramatically between a wistful emo soundscape and full-on rock out complete with wailing guitars and vein-popping vocal gymnastics.
Solipsism adds a healthy dose of funky bass mud-slinging before leading by way of an astral-tinged segue way into Misfire – a mini space opera with a chorus that’s catchy as a Velcro cold, Melero intoning everyone’s worst fear as he “I forgot the name of the person I’m about to meet” against a backdrop of off-kilter drums and climbing guitars.
Made Your Mark by contrast is all sunshine and pop; a distinct departure from previous album (2018’s ‘Mental Knife’) that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Feeder album.
Parasitic Cleanse adds a harder edge, drilling down as it does into Hail the Sun’s post hardcore origins with a sound that’s somewhere between Pavement and Paramore. It’s a sage nod to Hail the Sun’s back catalogue and the first of two songs that appear to delve into the pandemic experience of the past year – the other being Hysteriantics, Melero imploring ‘this isolation isn’t good for me!’
It’s all good clean fun (in stark contrast to the album title) and will no doubt find favour with the band’s sizeable fan base. For my money however there are too few moments that truly excite; too few hooks that really bury under the skin, the space-y Misfire aside.
Though technically highly proficient, New Age Filth lacks edge, especially when compared to the lunatic jam of the likes of contemporaries the Fall of Troy and Coheed and Cambria. 
(3.5 / 5)
