Jonny Amoral – Delirium

If you’ve been paying attention to what’s happening in the contemporary scene, you have probably noticed how many artists and bands deliver excellent music. No matter which style you prefer, you’ll always stumble upon some music outlets that will immediately grab your attention. However, only a few are capable of delivering music that instantly tackles all the senses, grabs you by the collar, and refuses to let go long after the last notes and beats fade. Jonny Amoral, an Australian artist based in Adelaide, is one of those singers, songwriters, and musicians whose creativity, talent, skills, knowledge, and experience are evident in his catchy, memorable, and captivating music. With “Delirium,” his second full-length album recently released on all streaming platforms, he proves modern rock music can still resonate with many brilliant ideas and outstanding musicianship. Lyrically, “Delirium” explores various sentiments, moods, situations, and circumstances distinctively. Therefore, it is a highly relatable collection of songs that will immediately resonate with any generation. Sonically, Jonny Amoral combines various genres of rock music to achieve the desired sound. If you pay attention, you’ll notice how grunge dominates the most, as the artist incorporated all the fundamental elements of this style, but do not be surprised if you stumble upon some of the finest properties of alternative, garage, hard rock, or punk rock along the way. Perhaps his songs shine with all the qualities that made grunge so widely popular in the early nineties, but you’ll also hear how qualities that meet all the trends in modern music production found their way here, making this material suitable for anyone who appreciates thoughtfully assembled and flawless music. It’s surely an album you do not want to miss out on, whether you’re a grunge fan or not.

This epic sonic journey commences with “Pull The Trigger,” such an outstanding opening tune that immediately demonstrates what you might expect from the remainder of the material. Jonny Amoral immediately showcases his soulful, passionate, confident vocal abilities, delivering raspy yet melodic vocal lines. The interplay between raw, unfiltered, heavily distorted guitar riffs and intricate, groovy, warm-sounding basslines creates a colossal wall of sound that immensely supports his vocal performance, while steady, punchy, dynamic, well-accentuated beats keep everything in line. Incredible opening tune that will immediately become a staple on so many playlists. With “Here,” Jonny Amoral showcases his tremendous songwriting and composing abilities. As soon as you press play, you’ll notice how he thought about the entire song structure by incorporating so many clever arrangements, profoundly detailed segments, brilliant ideas, and outstanding musicianship. This composition brings everything you dearly love about nineties music together in such a beautiful way. With all those palm-muted guitar works on the verses and power chords ringing during the choruses, the artists bring a slice of heavy, melodic punk rock with “The Patient.” This song brings all the heaviness, power, and aggression you desperately need from punk rock music, but there’s also addictive, hypnotic, irresistible melody and harmony lurking around, delivered by his incredibly soulful vocal performance. In the meantime, the rhythm section keeps the momentum going, with all those beats, breaks, fills, and accentuation ringing in the mix. With “Stranded,” “Dream/Deja Vu,” and “Fluming,” Jonny Amoral delivers a captivating grunge trilogy. The best part about it is how each composition has its own characteristics that define the significant eras of the genre. For example, “Stranded” keeps things as calm, soothing, relaxing, and fuzzy as possible, with all those bass and guitars drenched in generous servings of fuzz distortion, but all of a sudden transforms into wild beats with all the orchestration ringing during the guitar solo and last chorus. “Dream/Deja Vu” resonates in nearly the same way, but this time, subtle, deep, intricate, warm-sounding basslines keep the melody during the entire verse, paving the way for heavy guitar riffs to rage during the choruses. With its nearly psychedelic rock properties, “Fluming” stands out from this trio. It blends modern production with calm, captivating orchestrations, gradually paving the way for “Froot Loopz.”

“Froot Loopz” is a modern grunge masterpiece where the beautiful main theme immensely supports Amoral’s profoundly emotive vocal performance. The main theme gradually becomes an aggressive, powerful, hypnotic riff, leading the listener into a memorable chorus with precision and finesse. It’s nearly mind-blowing how Jonny Amoral’s vocal performance balances all the low, mid, and high notes here, while commanding attention, elevating all the instrumentation to new heights, and guiding listeners through each segment. If you’re looking for some dirty, unfiltered, aggressive, garage punk experience with a touch of melody, harmony, and anthemic choruses that immediately penetrate your ears, “Ai Loves You” will be right up your alley. With the fast, energetic, well-articulated rhyhtmic patterns, heavy basslines, and guitar work that could crush your bones, this song contains everything you ever needed from proper punk rock music. “Lunar Frequency (Spiritual Meets Science)” begins with a captivating theme that gradually descends into calmer sonic waters where a tastefully distorted bassline keeps the verse going, but all of a sudden, Jonny Amoral brings all that heavy artillery with another memorable chorus that penetrates your listening apparatus immediately. If you were looking for a classic grunge song empowered with a chorus that forces you to hum the melody and singalong, then “Heroin Chic” is definitely one of those songs here. While the guitars give more room for vocals to shine upon during the verses, you’ll notice how the instrumentation amplifies during the pre-choruses and choruses, forcing you to immediately bang your head and sing. The steady drum beats and colossal basslines bring more groove and power here, making it as heavy and melodic as possible. This epic sonic journey ends with “Back When Tigers Used To Smoke,” such a fine piece of sonic artistry that blends everything you dearly love about modern punk rock, garage, and grunge together. It’s a dynamic, energetic, heavy, melodic song that ends with a somewhat jazzy and funky overture. Such a perfect closure that invites you to spin this banger all over again.

Jonny Amoral has created a grunge album of the year, a masterpiece worth spinning over and over again until your speakers fall off. “Delirium” brings all the emotion, melody, harmony, aggression, power, and groove of grunge, garage, alternative, and punk rock, amplified by Amoral’s outstanding songwriting, composing, and producing. Jonny Amoral is a creative mastermind whose incredible music resonates deeply, tackles all the senses, and refuses to let go long after the last notes and beats fade away. You should immediately put “Delirium” on your music radar!