DEAD LETTER CIRCUS | Dead Letter Circus | Album Review

Australia has a bevvy of excellent bands and great music that I have a soft spot for. Bands originated in this continent have ranged from more djent/progressive metalcore leaning acts like Northlane to highly talented alt metal bands like Sunk Loto, The Butterfly Effect, and Cog. In the case of Dead Letter Circus, it's definitely the latter of those two but something that has kept this band afloat is their interesting way about creating their music. A lot of their peers often gravitate towards experimentation and trying to put out music that expands their tastes in a good way. Dead Letter Circus is prone to thinking outside the box but it's much simpler of an approach with hooks that would in theory please the radio market much more, and that's what I think works for the better. Now signed to Rise Records in a joint venture with UNFD, the band has issued their self-titled fourth studio album. Self-titled efforts from artists or bands are interesting because they never usually have a running theme behind them. Albums like this are usually ones where a band or artist makes a statement about what style they play, what genre they're in, et cetera. Especially in the case of Dead Letter Circus as a band who has had three solid albums behind them, all of which have fantastic songs to choose from. With this being a self-titled album from a band who hasn't really deviated too far off course and has just delivered solid music for around a decade, it's interesting to see how the final product turns out. 

Within the first three or four tracks on this album you can tell exactly what Dead Letter Circus is going for with this disc and it's not a bad thing. "The Armour You Own" is the album's opening track and it really does set the tone of how the album's songs will be constructed in their entirety. This song in particular has a nice groove and bump to it when it comes to the instrumental work and the performances from the entire band are good enough. Following "The Armour You Own" on the track listing are songs such as "The Real You", "Change", and "Running Out Of Time", all three of which follow the first track in a similar vein. This is the part of the album where you start to notice the formula that's present all throughout the album and you start to tell how each song is structured. All the tracks on the album, or most of them anyway, contain a first half featuring the verse-chorus-verse radio structure followed by a second half of "aimless" hooks so to speak that will often land depending on each track. While much of the album does work with this nicely, this album is stronger in its second half than its first with the tracks "Running Out Of Time" and especially "The Real You" not being as memorable of tracks. They are not bad songs because there is good instrumental work at play, but they don't leave as strong of an impression, evident in the weirdly written chorus of "The Real You" for example. As previously stated, it's the second half of the album that leaves a stronger impression. Tracks like "Heartline", "Trade Places", the softer cut "Ladders For Ladders", and especially "Say It Won't Be Long" all prove how capable Dead Letter Circus are at combining good elements together to make something that is worth listening to all the way through. 

Overall, this album does a very good job with what it's doing. Are there songs that don't work for me? Well, aside from "The Real You", I'm not exactly a fan of the closing cut "Home" as it leans more towards the cliched and generic side in the writing with the "least resistance" trope that has been overused in music. Also, even though these tracks are good, I would have loved to see more of a variety in the structures because these songs are good enough to merit some of that. But even with the songs being built in the way they were mapped out, there is still some awesome music worth listening to. I'm just getting into Dead Letter Circus' music so I'm not going to say for sure where this ranks in their discography, even though I'll most likely state that this isn't their strongest release. But in terms of album that aren't the best from a band, this is some very good material. There are a few bumps in the road that will not go over as well as some other moments, but looking at this album as a complete whole, it's definitely recommendable. If you're into good rock music and you want to get a taste of how solid Australia's version of the genre is, check out this album. The circus has come to town and it is not worth missing. 

RATING: 8/10 

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