De Australische metalcore band Polaris, die afgelopen juni gitarist Ryan Siew verloor, heeft een video uitgebracht voor de nieuwe single “Overflow”, afkomstig van hun aankomende, derde studioalbum “Fatalism” dat op 1 september uitkomt via Sharptone Records. De single is een wat rustiger nummer dan eerder gewend van de band en lijkt haast een beschrijving van deze tragische gebeurtenis. Siew is nog wel te zien in de video.
Drummer en tekstschrijver Daniel Furnari zegt er het volgende over:
This is one of the much more personal and vulnerable tracks on the record lyrically, whereas the other two singles took a wider, more outward perspective. I feel like the meaning of the song is fairly self explanatory, and I think a lot of people will naturally interpret it through the lens of their own experiences, but essentially for me it’s about the struggle of fighting off a panic attack and the impact of that struggle on others.
Net als bij de vorige singles van “Fatalism”, “Inhumane” en “Nightmare”, ontstond “Overflow” tijdens de schrijfsessie van de band in 2022 in de Blue Mountains, waarbij de alt-rock-neigingen de kern vormden van het nieuwste nummer dat organisch voortkwam uit enkele van Polaris’ eigen nummers.
Furnari voegt toe:
Overflow was another track that came about from one of our writing retreats, so I guess that system was really paying off at this point! We were pretty deep into the process at this point, I think this was actually the final track to make it onto the record. Jake had been pumping out simple chord sequences in an effort to break away from the busier, riffier stuff we’d been writing, and Ryan came in with this super catchy sliding lead over the top, which became the basis for the chorus and the central motif of the song. Stylistically, where Inhumane explored a sort of nu-metal direction and Nightmare was a straight up metalcore track in the truest sense, I’d say Overflow is much more of an alt-rock track.
I think my favourite part of this song is the direction the second verse takes, particularly when it picks up the energy for a moment. Rick wrote this verse development that really leaned into the sound of bands like Basement and Balance & Composure, which we both love, so it’s always satisfying when we find a way to somehow incorporate that alongside the heavier stuff that we more regularly do. Finding a way to get a big heavy section into this song without it feeling out of place was also a challenge and I love that we managed to shape this combination of sliding powerchord accents, crazy programming and bass and drum moments into a type of breakdown we hadn’t accomplished before.
Pre-Orders voor het album zijn hier verkrijgbaar. De band live zien kan tijdens huw show met While She Sleeps en Bury Tomorrow waarmee ze op 28 september in Ancienne Beligique in Brussel (BE) staan en op 29 september in Poppodium 013 in Tilburg (NL).
