Banks Arcade “Death 2”
‘Look alive, look alive, there’s never better time to be mine’ sings Joshua O’Donnell, the charismatic frontman of Banks Arcade at the opening new EP Death 2. An EP that dives into the darker, more extreme side of the bands multi-faceted, multi-layered, assortment of styles and emotions.
The band are dropping Death 2 as the first release in a series of projects over the next year with each one exploring, focusing and unleashing a side of the band only dabbled on with their previous release, the stunning album Future Lovers.
Death 2, as the name implies, reaches lyrically into the parts of O’Donnell psyche that remain dark, lost in anger, craving dopamine yet descriptively shine a light on the fears that we all have. It’s O’Donnell’s ability to create lyrics that highlight the cognitive dissonance humans go through, and his ability to display them through the theatre of voice, that makes this stand apart.
Opening with Worship The Internet, musically it throws elements of industrial and drum and bass placed neatly around metalcore rhythms. The dynamics between styles as O’Donnell investigates the insidious nature of social media – the descent of morals in search of that dopamine hit that ultimately makes us feel worse – allows the music and lyrics to swing between narcissistic whine and combative anger.
Each song is not a standard 4/4 beat either, the bands ability to seamlessly sit comfortable within different genres makes listening to the EP and exciting descriptive journey itself as Sentimental shows with a rapping style and a groove that bops along like BMTH.
More Want continues the bands versatility and even brings into it a ska two tone like breakdown where O’Donnell becomes the instrument, mimicking a trombone before an alarm sounding effect pre-warns of the songs brutal heavy conclusion.
If it’s heavy you want though Roulette take you there as a Lovecraftian sense of madness ensues lyrically taking you into a world of self destruction with words such as ‘do you like the way I fucking lose it?’ An insidious walls-closing opening explodes in rage and compact riffs complement the growls. It goes pretty hard and I’m keen to see this live on the up coming Northlane tour.
Killing Games is also a rapturous riff machine which is only matched by the bans ability to match the schizophrenic lyrics and switch genres with class before the EP finishes with Change, a more somber closer about a desire for connection mixed with self loathing.
Banks Arcade have done what they do best. What they want. They’ve done it equivocally with all their heart, with passion and have left nothing out. It’s raw, it’s energetic and surgically perfect. It’s the soundtrack to a time that everyone of us can relate to. Now that’s art.
EP Review By Iain McCallum
