Amaryllis’ ‘Nova Initium’ is definitely a stand out album, with their punchy guitar riffs and melodic vocals, it’s definitely a throwback to the old school Sunny Day Real Estate brand of emo which is bound to catch some attention at next month’s Camden Rocks Festival.
Opening with the upbeat and fresh ‘All We Have’ is bound to get the crowds moving and grab their attention as a live song, particularly with the soulful backing vocals, adding a wonderful texture to Sante’s vocals. Bouncing between poignant and anthemic, combining inspirational yet sad lyrics this song is full of contrasts making it all that more elegant.
Sliding through the effortlessly slick ‘Basement’ we land in the bittersweet ‘Drown’ which is definitely my favourite track of the album, building into an emotionally heavy chorus with soaring guitar melodies, the song definitely has tinges of Hawthorne Heights with sugar coated roots and flipper hair.
‘Nova’ serves as a soothing interval, breaking up the album into two distinguishable parts, heavy on the guitar with faded lyrics and a dramatic bassline builds up the tension for the last two tracks on the album. ‘Rain’ takes the pace right down, quietly acoustic and gentle, there’s very slight hints of violins which builds up to a passionate guitar solo which is enough to bring goosebumps to the smoothest of arms. Finishing on ‘Thorn’, after calming things down, Amaryllis smash things back up again to full force giving everything they have to give with scathing lyrics and heavy guitar riffs ensuring they leave their mark on the listener, it’s the sort of song that makes you want to start an uprising!