Album review: Currents – The Death We Seek

By DAN SOUTHALL

HAILING from Connecticut, modern metalcore band Currents are playing a game played by so many other bands it has become difficult to distinguish one from the next. This band attempt to stand out just by jamming technical guitars amongst the maelstrom with a formula that has seen them winning fans.

The Death We Seek opens with fairly standard fare, the title track making sure their fans are placated early. It is on the second track that Currents get interesting, and it’s great to see a band dig in early. “Living In Tragedy” sets a high mark for clean vocals that send a good shiver up the spine and is coupled to some of the heaviest vocals on the album and some great, juddering guitar work.

Unfortunately this is the biggest stand out, as the band begin to fall into the tropes of the heavier side of metalcore a bit too much, from the ballad like opening of “Unfamiliar”, that descends into familiar angsty territory, and a little further down the track list is “Vengeance” that operates in almost the reverse manner; the keyboard/synth on “Gone Astray” feels more like a quick pirate jig before the rest of the band joins in on the obligatory angsty almost-ballad.

The Death We Seek isn’t a bad album. It is just that the repetition allows you to see the corner coming before it arrives. The album is heavy as balls and eminently mosh-worthy – so much so at times that it demands your attention. With a relatively brief runtime of 39 minutes though, it feels like it drags on and loses its early urgency. This is the kind of album that makes great background noise to break up silence, or underpinning a few beers with mates in your backyard so your neighbours are just worried enough about you, but don’t call in the cops or an exorcist.