Terrestrials - Terrestrials

Terrestrials 

Terrestrials
self-released; 2017

​3.8 out of 5

By Dom Eagle

Born and raised in Melbourne, Australia, Terrestrials was formed in 2015 by members with musical interests varying from distinct melodic ambience to the aggression contained with rock or metal. Terrestrials takes pride in putting on energetic and immersive live shows, and this most certainly shows through within their recordings; I wouldn’t even need to see them perform to tell you that. The band has drawn inspiration from the big names such as Karnivool, Dead Letter Circus and Deftones. Their debut EP is a testament to their influences, but also to their impressively original sound.

​Their six-track self-titled EP Terrestrials opens with “In Sand Between.” A muted, clean electric guitar arpeggio chugs, repeats and reverberates endlessly as crooning vocals swoop and echo off into the endless oblivion of this track. This is simultaneously a soft, chilled out opener and an electrifying, arena-filling performance.

Distorted electric guitar joins the madness as do more vicious, hungry, angst-fueled vocals as a throbbing drum beat and bombastic sounds punctuate the soundscape. Terrestrials manage to combine tranquility and soaring, ricocheting noise effortlessly. A furious climax leaves me with this yearning for more, which is great because there are five more electrifying tracks to come.

“Dysphoria” opens with a similar atmospheric style to the previous track, but the vocals adopt more of a ballad-like style. Frantic drumming, steadily building guitars which eventually climax into a distorted rock-fueled style from their initial clean, tame state all converge to create a loud atmosphere, but there’s no denying that this is a soft and tender song in terms of spirit and emotion. The vocals are piercing, haunting and powerful for being so. Interestingly, the breakdown towards the close of this track is not screeching, noisy and electrifying like the previous track; it’s soft, composed of soothing guitar chords and tentative, sorrowful vocals. I love the loud-quiet dynamic that Terrestrials have going on elsewhere, but this song was definitely one of my favorites.

“Web” is driven by a throbbing bass rhythm and the musical nugget of a clean electric guitar arpeggio that has become a staple of Terrestrials’ sound. Comprised of addictive harmonic vocals which swoop and croon above the precise, punchy drum beat and the music below, there are some new sonic styles on this track which really piqued my interest, to say the least. This is a peaceful and intriguing track. There are so many varying sections; there’s no traditional structure to the song and that makes it all the more interesting. The solo and chugging, metallic breakdown towards the close of the song was a punchy, powerful close to an already-impressive track.

All in all, this EP is short but sweet. I loved the variation in musical scope. While it’s hard to give any huge predictions as to the future of Terrestrials’ sound based on a mere six tracks, I hope that they’ll push their hunger for different genres even further in the future and experiment with many more sonic possibilities. There’s a lot of potential here.

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