Categories: REVIEWS

Calling All Astronauts – Pray For Your Soul

Photo courtesy of the band.

Calling All Astronauts, a prolific English duo based in London, returns with “Noise Against Tyranny,” their highly anticipated forthcoming full-length album. With “Pray For Your Soul,” their first single that serves as a perfect taster of what you might expect from this full-length, Calling All Astronauts showcase not only a natural progression but all those qualities that defined their music on “#Resist,” “Anti-Social Network,” and “Post Modern Conspiracy.” Four years in the making “Noise Against Tyranny” carries a self-explanatory title, covering an array of themes that struck upon modern society. That’s the case with “Pray For Your Soul,” a song that tackles socio-political themes, reflecting their stance against societal injustices. Therefore, it’s a highly relatable composition that will immediately resonate with the broader auditorium. Sonically, Calling All Astronauts incorporates all those elements that defined their previous recordings. They explore many approaches, combinations, and genres in order to illustrate lush sonic imagery. Perhaps industrial music comes to mind first, but you’ll unquestionably stumble upon some of the finest properties of EDM, electro, darkwave, goth rock, and post-punk music. They use all these additional sonic ingredients as more than necessary enhancements, accentuations, decorations, and other details to uplift their music to new heights while simultaneously remaining loyal to the primary sonic direction. Therefore, these experimentations with many different approaches and complementary styles resulted in a meaningful and powerful industrial song that will not only appeal to longtime fans of the genre but anyone even looking for expertly arranged and flawlessly performed music.

Photo courtesy of the band.

As soon as you press play, you’ll how much heart and soul Calling All Astronauts poured into crafting this fine piece of sonic artistry. Their dedication to the craft is unmatchable, as “Pray For Your Soul” arrives with a perfect structure, garnered with many profoundly detailed segments, brilliant ideas, sharp lyricism, and marvelous orchestrations. Each vocal, sonic, and rhythmic maneuver has its place and purpose here, shaping a perfect sonic experience worth repeating over and over again. The programming and rhythmic structures play a significant role in this track. You’ll immediately stumble upon all those perfectly arranged, expertly programmed, well-accentuated beats, breaks, fills, and other percussive acrobatics. They keep the remainder of the instrumentations in line while dictating groove and tempo with precision and finesse. Every hit of the snare, kick of the bass drum, accentuation over hi-hat, and splash over the cymbals cuts the ambiance, providing more than necessary dynamic, groove, and detail. You’ll also hear all those equally impressive, vividly hearable, warm-sounding basslines rumbling beneath the guitars and synths, offering more than necessary heaviness, clarity, and depth while serving as a binding element between all those mentioned instrumentations and rhythmic patterns. These low-ends are rich, deep, dense, and heavy, offering even more groove and power to this amazing track.

Of course, the guitars act as a perfect backdrop for all those vocal maneuvers to shine upon. You’ll notice how the interplay between rhythm and lead guitar creates such a lush, dark, ethereal ambiance, suitable for dark electronic, EDM, and darkwave music like this. The comprehensive collection of heavy, raw, aggressive riffs resonates on one side while the other delivers various accentuations, themes, leads, maneuvers, ambiances, and other sonic delicacies. Also, there are synths included along the way, elevating these guitar works to the point they’re blending perfectly together. It’s nearly mindblowing how all these layers are articulating together without overwhelming each other, showcasing Calling All Astronauts’ fascinating dedication to the craft. The generous servings of distortion on guitars perfectly pair with clean synth notes, offering both rawness and melody. Still, the vocals steal the show here. You’ll instantly notice how soulful, passionate, sincere, confident, emotive, powerful vocal maneuvers serve as a centerpiece, elevating everything to new heights, commanding attention, and guiding the listening apparatus. These raw, abrasive, gritty, aggressive vocal maneuvers seamlessly balance low, mid, and high notes, emphasizing everything Calling All Astronauts intended to achieve with their latest composition. Perhaps they lean much more toward aggressive singing techniques, but there’s a touch of melody lurking around, acting as a counterweight that spices things up and uplifts this track even more.

With “Pray For Your Soul,” Calling All Astronauts have once again showcased why they’re one of the best contemporary English industrial bands. Their experience, knowledge, creativity, skills, and talent shine through every beat, instrumentation, and vocal maneuver. Their music never ceases to amaze, and with “Pray For Your Soul,” they announce a new era where their brilliant ideas and exceptional musicianship shine in the limelight even more. The single is available on all streaming platforms. Don’t miss it!

Djordje Miladinović

Hi, my name is Djordje and music is my passion. You'll probably find me at the gigs, in a local record store, distro or in front of my PC searching for some quality music to listen to. Do not hesitate to contact me. By becoming a Patron, you're keeping Thoughts Words Action alive. https://www.patreon.com/thoughtswordsaction

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