Palisades- self titled album Review by Jake.

Palisades have been a rather interesting band for me ‒ I really liked their work in ‘Outcasts’, however I wasn’t a very big fan of their last album ‘Mind Games’, and before this album they had lost two members of the band ‒ their bassist (Brandon Reese) and their DJ/mixer (Earl Halasan). Losing these vital musicians meant that Palisades were going to have to come up with a newish sound, without losing too much of their fan base and hopefully even attracting new fans.

Pros and cons

If you are a massive Palisades fan and liked their songs ‘Fall’ and ‘Aggression’, then you will enjoy this album.

Pros	Cons
Catchy sound	Tad overproduced
Good guitar riffs	Repetitive
Great use of clean and unclean vocals	Lacks ‘teeth’
Good balance between EDM and hardcore

My analysis

I am torn by this album. I liked it in parts, but at times it was such a grind to get through that I found myself looking at the tracks to see how many were left. This is never a good sign.

One thing I will say however, is that it does have some standout tracks such as  ‘Cold Heart (Warm Blood)’, ‘Through Hell’, and ‘Dancing with Demons’. The thing all these songs have in common is that this is where Palisades show that they are different and unique to other bands ‒ ‘Through Hell’ especially shows some aggression and some fire, things that are sorely lacking on the rest of the album. With the extremely heavy guitar riff and great use of unclean vocals, it really makes you just want to go nuts. The chorus is catchy, and something I could sing along to. It has a great breakdown near the middle of the track, and overall this is my favourite song on the album. It really showcases all that is good about Palisades’ sound.

 

 

The other singles on this album ‒ being ‘Aggression’ and ‘Fall’ ‒ are tedious. ‘Aggression’, the first track on the album, feels a little too toothless and unaggressive which is rather ironic because the name of the song entices certain expectations, yet it fails at getting you in the mood for the album. ‘Fall’ is bad because it feels kind of poppy, like they are trying to be radio friendly. The song just doesn’t feel like a Palisades song ‒ it feels like something you would see an extremely mainstream band create.

 

A  negative on this album is that a lot of songs seem the same ‒ they all go through the exact same phases as each other, they are all structured the same way, and it just feels repetitive and boring when it shouldn’t. Palisades are a young fresh band and ‘Outcasts’ was a standout album for me, but this album is just nothing. Even the good songs are kind of forgettable when put with all the mundanity that the rest of the album offers.

Overall, I walked away from this album just feeling a little disappointed in Palisades. It’s an ok album if you’re a fan of theirs, but is that seriously good praise? This industry today is a harsh environment and you really need to be different and respected or be the same as every other person out there and hope you get recognised. This album would have been better if they were a little more creative with lyrics and just not as monotonous with their sound. I am hopeful that their next album will be an improvement on this one.

Written by Jake La Ponder

Editor Ari Smith