“Released myself from the shackles I helped create.”
It has been a tumultuous few years for Swedish metalcore act Aviana, leaving vocalist Joel Holmqvist (who replaced the departing Marcus Vik in 2019) the sole member. With that in mind, Corporation is an incredible effort. Say what you like about a release cycle which has seen eight singles of an eleven-track LP drip-fed over almost two years – and I am as jaded as any – but the songs are impressive in the light of one man’s vision. It is clear that Joel has a clear idea of what he wants Aviana to be, and a plethora of influences to throw into the blender in order to achieve that. Nu influences shine through on tracks like “Illuminate” and “Overcome” to the melodic, Currents-esque “Obsession”.
Admittedly, this is a bittersweet record to review. Ambient yet rife with tasty leads and calculated doses of aggression, Corporation is everything I love about the current wave of metalcore. Yet, typing out my thoughts feels like preaching to the choir – fans will no doubt have been following the singles, lapping up to this point; in comes the record which, sans the instrumental intro and outro tracks, offers only one new song, one which so happens to be my least favourite on the record. “Illuminate”, whose vocals lean far too much into 2000s nu metal for my liking, fails to adequately distinguish itself from the rest of the tracks and feels like an insufficient consolation for an endless number of delays. The same unfortunate nu affectation applies to the bulk of the penultimate track, “Overcome”, which is used intermittently to kill the track’s momentum. However, the disgusting gutturals towards the end make it worth the listen.
Despite being short and instrumental with no real crescendo, I quite like the opener, “Curriculum”. It’s tight and chunky, with satisfying bends, and leads nicely into the first actual song. “Obsession” is a solid modern melodic metalcore track, but one that never quite escapes the shadow of the Currents influence it so clearly channels; it would be a middling cut on 2020’s The Way It Ends, and now sadly feels a year too late. Aside from this, most of the album’s heavier tracks fill out its first half, with mid-album cut “Oblivion” shining in its aggressive, even vitriolic, lyricism, the diverse range of lows and highs Holmqvist exhibits, and an immensely satisfying bass drop in the breakdown.
“Staying alive in your land full of sin,
Always keep pushing with hands made of steel.
I’m starving, with the stitches made from your grin.
I am falling.”
This is followed up by another strong track in the form of “Retaliation”. Released way back in February of 2021 as the first single, the shortest actual song on Corporation is a refreshing and balanced change of pace with pummelling drums and groovy leads that will certainly have you headbanging. “Anomaly”, as the seventh track, would have made a wonderful closer to a very tight EP, had the subsequent tracks been axed. In fact, I think it a more fitting conclusion to the record than either the instrumental outro, “Negligence”, or the last veritable song, “Overcome”. It is the most dynamic track on the record, building slowly from a haunting, melodic atmosphere into a glorious, heavy resolution, replete with bends, panic chords and a menacing ’80s synth. All whilst Holmqvist delivers perhaps his best vocal performance. “Negligence”, with its well-mixed 808s, key-synth progression, swirling ambience, and just a hint of orchestration bore a lot of potential, but its confinement to an instrumental piece with little direction leaves it falling flat. Something similar in future, but expanded into a full track, could be fantastic.
Without a doubt, the highlight of the album is the track that stands out from the tracklist: “Paradox” featuring Marcus Vik, now of Invent Animate. Aviana vocalists, old and new, united on a track engineered in this new, heavier direction. Bends, slides, pinch harmonics, and a breakdown that does not stop giving – the guitarwork across the track is simply phenomenal. Relentlessly heavy, which this new era of Aviana could afford to lean into more. That said, Marcus is the real star, pushing his unclean vocals to quite literally new heights with high screams and crushing lows weaved in effortlessly throughout, this versatile delivery masking some admittedly rather repetitive lyricism. “Paradox” is bludgeoning in all aspects and – whilst I would have enjoyed a sprinkling of the beautiful cleans Marcus is known for in the mix for the sake of replayability – may very well be the best breakdown Aviana has penned to date.
That lack of replayability is something that surprised me for Corporation as a whole, considering my anticipation for it. Across the record, the riffs and breakdowns do begin to blend into one another, so it’s one that I don’t envision myself listening in full too often. Nor do I think there is really any merit to a full playthrough, detached as the tracks are lyrically. Not to mention a track arrangement that feels much like an afterthought. However, it is hard not to remember how much fun I had looping “Retaliation”, “Obsession”, “Anomaly”, and “Paradox” to death when they dropped as respective singles. Most of the songs fall into the ‘good’ category, but only the aforementioned few truly stand as memorable in the wider sense of the genre. Whilst the end result is unfortunately no classic, it is bound to be of interest to fans of modern melodic metalcore.
Aviana stems from the Latin for ‘bird’, and despite its shortfalls, they do soar in many aspects with Corporation – notably when it commits to the heavy. In large part, the tracks feel like a collection of singles experimenting with various influences, which makes the intro and outro tracks less effectual, but I appreciate the monolexical titles and consistent production that tie them all together. Though rough, there’s a lot to love, and it feels like this is the raw colour palette from which Aviana will gauge the tone of their next work. Aside from being an admirable addition to an accomplished discography, Corporation is a testament of Holmqvist’s resilience,and a promise of good things to come.
Corporation will be released this Friday, September 30th, via Arising Empire, and you can pre-order it here.
7/10