AZUSA

Heavy Yoke indie Avant-metallers’ debut shows there is life after Dillinger Escape Plan.

When mathy prog-core overlords The Dillinger Escape Plan called it quits last year after two decades, surprised fans were left pondering where their members might turn next. While singer Greg Puciato revisited electronic outfit The Black Queen, plectrum punishing bassist Liam Wilson was quick off the blocks to team with two comrades from Norway’s Extol to form Azusa – and the result is an addictive, metallic cocktail of unexpected turns, jagged riffs and haunting melody. The stramash at the start of Interstellar Islands feels like being blindfolded and chucked on a runaway train, but when it flits to the disjointed, swampy verse, brightened with singer Eleni Zafiriadou’s sweet vocals, you know there’s more in the band’s DNA than just gung-ho hellery. Much like Dillinger, Azusa revel in contrasts, sounding both like an impending apocalypse and a fresh dawn. The keyboard strains in Fine Lines juxtapose against the thrashon-LSD adventurism of Spellbinder, while Zafiriadou – when not guttural – serves up indie-flecked melody on top of the spiky melee. When they find their groove, Azusa deliver some of the best prog metal moments of the year.