NucleustI Am Ocean

Perth’s Nucleust have regrouped and redeployed themselves as a progressive outfit on their third EP. The meat and potatoes deathcore has matured into something grander and textured. This is not the Nucleust we once knew, yet is now greater than the sum of its parts.

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First track Meds is like they’re letting us dip our toes in before a full body dive (there’s that ocean metaphor again!); it’s hard and djenty up the front, seguing to a Eastern inspired run on the frets and distant, fogged out vocals that prog bands just find so endearing.  Walls of Glass builds itself around a jagged motif that the band toys and makes variations with; it would seem that their transition from a band writing riffs to a band writing songs is complete. That’s the distinction between the Nucleust of old and what we have now. Pulses of orchestras and synth aren’t just “there” like so many other empty core vessels, they serve a central theme. When it all breaks down to Jayden spitting “Go fuck yourself, and all your friends” it’s as if there’s a definite heel-turn unfolding in front of us. It’s taking on a life of its own.

Nucleust’s third EP, with a couple more songs chucked on, would be more than strong enough to call a stellar debut album

Twinkling piano is crushed under weighty riffs in Dark Days, emphasising the organic over Northlane’s obsession with tech-noir. It veers into some Dead Letter Circus style chanting to the heavens, amplified by stellar, expansive production. Proggy and freewheeling Fade Out takes some cues from Architects, a seamless fusion of prog metal sensibility and raw, bloodthirsty riffage. I Am Ocean feels overwhelming at times, punishing us with almost percussive gunblasts of guitar. We’re then plunged into that ocean, piano mirroring our rise to a serene surface. Nucleust have thought long and hard about how they want I Am Ocean to come across with producer Nick McLernon. The concept and its execution feels cinematic; something lesser prog rock and metal bands aim for but often miss.

Nucleust’s third EP, with a couple more songs chucked on, would be more than strong enough to call a stellar debut album. We’ll have to stay content with what they’ve released for now; but we’ll be clamouring for more before too long.

STANDOUT TRACKS: Walls of Glass, Dark Days, I Am Ocean
STICK THIS NEXT TO: Architects, Karnivool, Northlane