Alexisonfire: Otherness | 4ZZZ Brisbane 102.1FM

- Please bear with me through the course of this review as I try to separate the deep sentimentality I have for Alexisonfire and my desire to put together an objective review. It’ll cause some cognitive dissonance as we go along because truly, they have been one of my favourite bands for a very long time. Outside a real skint handful of tracks since 2010’s Dog’s Blood and an even more scarce festival appearance, Alexisonfire, for the longest time, have seemed comfortable to let their body of work, to that point, speak for them. There were side projects to tide the diehards over and life rolled on. Seeing a new record on the horizon, however, had me all excited with a foreign giddiness. Spoiler alert: if it’s a case of waiting another twelve years until the next record, and if it’s anything like Otherness, it’s something I’m more than willing to do.

To me, the Canadian quintet’s greatest strength in all their releases has been how wide they cast their musical net and how everything that falls within that radius has a uniquely Alexisonfire sound to it. From the three pronged vocal attack, which I’ll talk about later, the weird tuning they play in and the adherence to some central pillars, everything sounds well within their wheelhouse, regardless of how, er, big, said wheelhouse is. There are more straight forward numbers here like Survivor’s Guilt, Reverse The Curse and Conditional Love. These revel in the simple glory of engineering a whole song around a rollicking rhythm, throwing in a searing guitar solo, and have barked vocals adding an edge into the mix. It’s all tightly played and jam-packed full of energy.

From there, and using jam as the transition, we have the longer tracks that are jammed out with greater levity to their energy but more weighed down with their presence. Droning guitars self-resolve these melodies that never quite seem finished until they finally are and by that point, you’re already hooked in deep. Often being oriented around a motif, progression, vocal line, or all three such is the case with Dark Night of Soul, these tracks take great pleasure in their heft. Take the opening one-two of Committed to the Con and Sweet Dreams of Otherness; sans some dynamics variation and the welcoming of other elements during the choruses, these tracks mull over a central point. There is a risk of being monotonous at times but it transcends that into a meditative presence and when the variation hits, they pop.

I mentioned before the triumvirate of vocals lends itself to the mastery of this diversity and during the more drawn out, melancholy songs, this comes into its own. Mistaken Information shows the angelic vocal's command over a track so sparse, it reinforces the spotlight. When all combined as it is on Dark Night of Soul, each play off and compliment the other beautifully. The raspy bellows contrasts with angelic highs while the gravelly power is the link between the three.

I wasn’t sure to expect with Otherness and honestly, it took me until the third or fourth listen to truly unlock what’s on offer here. Sometimes your love for something can cloud it and not allow you to fully grasp what’s in front of you. Once I put my bias as far to one side as possible, it all became much easier to digest. It doesn’t feel as though Alexisonfire have truly gone anywhere. They’re as potent as they ever were. Otherness is a masterful release from a group that have kept a steady hand on their style.

- Matt Lynch.