Twin Atlantic: The Chaser

The Chaser;

I heard this song around 20 minutes ago for the first time. It's on its 5th listen since then.. you do the math.

Once I got over the initial excitement that Twin Atlantic have returned with yet another video from their newest album GLA, I followed the link and watched the whole thing from beginning to end. I love the fact the song starts out with a rough deep guitar which already introduces the main riff. From this, you can really tell the lads aren't messing about; they want this riff stuck in your head by the end, and god damn it achieves just that.

Twin Atlantic's intro's will forever amaze me. Every single song from their previous album Great Divide and heck even back to their debut Vivarium, has an intro sounding so different from the previous one. If you play the first 3 seconds of any Twin Atlantic song at random each one will have a different instrument at a different pitch. Give it a go, I guarantee whatever you pick you will see my point. The diversity is unreal and in The Chaser there is no variation. After the initial catchy rift, claps and chant vocals are introduced which shout crowd pleaser at every turn. You can imagine this played live with a sea of people clapping and chanting back.

But with all this diversity, you find yourself starting to crave some typical Twin Atlantic charm. You wait through the intro.. first verse.. bridge and just as you're about to panic that they have changed their beautiful Scottish sound BOOM Twin Atlantic are back! *insert deep sigh of relief here* The background drums remind me very much of a slower version of Hold On. (My favourite Twin Atlantic song featured here.) You can really hear Sam McTrusty's strong Scottish vocals perfectly intertwined with the heavy hitting beat.. if you can excuse the lyrical pun.

I think the main struggle an artist/band face nowadays when creating new material is trying to find that perfect balance between doing something different (to create that all important diversity) whilst also bringing forward all their hardcore fans from their previous album. The most common criticism heard WAY too frequently is the good ol' phrase 'every song sounds the same..'. But of course we're quick to criticize as soon as a band alter their sound too much becoming almost 'mainstream'. There's such a thin line between that decision from familiarity to making an album too 'out there' but Twin Atlantic seem to laugh at the mention of difficulty by instead dancing on this line with ease.

Each song released so far from this much awaited new album has been such a jam. No Sleep is so badass whilst Mother Tongue (their newest single) is beautifully raw (even featuring some subtle yet atmospheric strings) - Give all their singles a listen below and decide which one is your favourite. Mine has got to be The Chaser; just for the opportunity to see Sam McTrusty pissed as a fart in the video if nothing else.

New album GLA out Friday; pre order yours here!