genres: metalcore + melodic hardcore
There’s few musical phenomena more fun than an established band taking everything good they’ve developed over their career and elevating it to an entirely different level. That’s what we got on Polar’s 2019 album Nova. Polar have had an extremely solid career as one of the most engaging and energetic melodic hardcore bands, blending the sensibilities of melodic hardcore with some hard driving metalcore flair. Nova maintains that formula while turning everything up to 11. “Prey” is one of the most anthemic hardcore tracks in recent memory, just begging to be screamed along to. “Drive” (among others) adds a few subtle pulsing electronic elements to the mix, similar to a heavier version of Being As An Ocean’s last several releases. Elsewhere, tracks like “Midnight” borrow a riff progression reminiscent of Sempiternal era Bring Me The Horizon. There’s nothing very pretentious or fancy on this release, but it’s also one of the most consistently engaging and long lasting metal releases of the past several years.
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