Currents have seen their fan base grow, suiting lovers of Architects, August Burns Red, Humanity’s Last Breath and more! The five-piece, death-infused metalcore act have cultivated their sound across each release, and The Way It Ends sees them push further boundaries in their career to create an incredibly dynamic album.
The opening track It Was Never There provides a powerful aperitif. The intense emotion portrayed through the vocals is accompanied by a hauntingly beautiful piano melody and cinematic drums. It’s an impressive introduction to the album that contrasts well with the heavy guitars of the following track, A Flag To Wave. There’s a lot going on with this track. The heavy guitar sections and harsh vocals deliver a strong sound, whilst the soaring chorus introduces an incredible atmosphere. The vocal melody line in the chorus, particularly the line “to carry to the end”, sends shivers down my spine. There’s a wonderful ethereal quality to it. The metalcore aspect of their sound really comes through but it’s so much more than that. The breakdown that suddenly manifests in the latter section of the A Flag To Wave introduces a fantastic, heavy bouncing rhythm. By ending the track with this instrumentation, it presents a dark contrast with the soaring elements in the chorus. It’s very effective and segues nicely into the dark demonic soundscape of Poverty Of Self. Huge dissonance, fast pounding rhythms and intense harsh vocals combine to produce a ludicrously heavy track.
Kill The Ache brings the drama of fast, heavy guitar rhythms with serene clean guitar leads. This track plays with dynamics and soundscapes to create different levels of sound. It’s an emotional track and the instrumentation aptly fits with the emotion portrayed in the lyrics. Aggressive harsh vocals and soaring cleans, once again, work together wonderfully. Currents have this ability to fit so much in their tracks without the ideas competing for space or feeling incohesive. They’ve cultivated some amazing guitar tones, and Kill The Ache is just one of the many tracks on this album that really shows this off. The djent inspired tone of the heavy distortion, particularly on the fast rhythms, is just delicious. It blends well with the other instruments whilst holding its own, giving their sound a really dark edge. The cleans used for leads, that subtly appear every now and then, have a clear texture that cuts through the distortion of instruments without clashing with them. Second Skin also delivers incredible heavy tones. The addition of electronic motifs throughout give this track an extra something. By including brief distorted synth parts, the texture of the sound has more depth to it. Reaching the end of an album is always a melancholy moment but Better Days concludes The Way It Ends with a bang! It contains so many dynamics, this track really embodies the ideas explored across the album. And the chorus is another one of their fantastically anthemic, soaring pieces.
Currents have cultivated a dynamic sound that is unique to them. The range of soundscapes, from death influences through to metalcore, deliver incredible ground-shaking heaviness along with ethereal atmospheric elements. It’s great to see how they’re growing as a band; The Way It Ends is a fantastic addition to their discography.
I bloody love this album.
Check out the track listing below of “The Way It Ends” by Currents:
- Never There
- A Flag To Wave
- Poverty Of Self
- Monsters
- Kill The Ache
- Let Me Leave
- Origin
- Split
- Second Skin
- How I Fell Apart
- Better Days
Fans can find Currents at the following locations:
