Windwaker - "Hyperviolence"
Consider this a sophomore stumble
Windwaker is an Australian Metalcore band whose debut album, in 2022, caught my attention because of the band’s name, alone — and yes, it’s a Legend of Zelda reference. That debut album, Love Language, was solid and rated a Green, but it was just a debut, so I have been waiting on the followup to see how the band might grow.
Well, the followup is here: Hyperviolence released in early July, but the band had some serious lineup changes in the two years between releases:
Vocalist Will King left the band to pursue a Psychology degree
Former guitarist and backing vocalist Liam Guinane, who had been with the band from 2017-2020, has returned as the lead vocalist
Keyboardist Connor Robins has been added to the group, making the band a five-piece (again)
And Hyperviolence starts off on the right foot with “Infinity”, an upbeat, electronic-infused banger with some solid riffs; this is followed by “Sirens”, which feels like the first clear indication of the trouble with a vocalist switch. The song’s composition leans into a duality which the band pulls off very well — except that former vocalist King’s voice likely would have carried the lighter portions a bit better than Guinane’s. Don’t believe me? Check out Love Language’s title track or “Superstitious Fantasy”, which utilizes a similar duality.
That isn’t intended as a slight against Guinane — he’s still an excellent vocalist, but he sings at a slightly lower register which pays off in other areas. King showed off that he could do both harsh and clean vox on “Superstitious Fantasy” and elsewhere in Love Language, but he has nothing on the harsh “GO!” at the start of “Fractured State of Mind”. On the whole, Guinane’s harsh vocals are a bit better than King’s, I think; and I think that “Sirens” would have worked better for King.
Tradeoffs.
Even though the band had a little time to work with Guinane before Hyperviolence released, it’s very possible their processes and approaches were geared for King; I’ve heard fans mention similar issues with other bands — notably Nightwish — when the person taking lead on songwriting was somebody who wasn’t the vocalist.1
The album has a few more highlights (“Villain”) and lowlights (“Break The Rules”) in the first half, but grows increasingly ‘mid’ as it moves into the final third of its runtime. Part of this is that it becomes very clear that it isn’t just a straight Metalcore album — they’ve infused it with a lot of Nu Metal elements, which I do not remember being present in Love Language. And there’s nothing inherently wrong with Nu Metal…it’s just…stale. It’s a genre which is currently waiting on an artist who can redefine and broaden it, like some genric collision of galaxies.
But this ain’t it.
Of Hyperviolence’s 13 tracks, I really enjoyed about five, and I didn’t hate seven of them.
Not the sophomore effort I was hoping for. But, considering the changes in lineup, this really feels more like a second debut.
Rating: Yellow
I suspect this is the case with Windwaker, as the only constant members, start-to-finish, have been bassist Indey Salvestro and drummer Chris Lalic.