Having never listened to Dead Poet Society previously, I wasn’t sure what to expect – but I’d have guessed a calm indie sound. As the opening track 5:29:45 kicked in, I was quite stunned at the heaviness and distortion that I was met with.
It isn’t a heavy album, and returned to an indie rock sound which I dare describe as early Muse meets PVRIS. It seems to tells the story of toxic situations, leading to heart break. Although, the band have left a lot of it to the listener’s interpretation. It’s an album that sounds cool, but also desperate. A less-is-more approach to the songs is what makes them good to listen to. I can relate with lyrics, and feel the rhythms, but not be too overwhelmed by synths and changes in tone and tempo. Not to say that there isn’t variety between songs. It’s done very well.
How Could I Love You? Is one of my favourite tracks, I love how the chorus is sang in a way where you can feel the pain that’s intended. Running In Circles does well to differentiate between the sections of the song, as well as being quite fun to listen to.
Tipping Point takes a different approach to how the vocals are sang and is much softer than the rest of the songs. Yet, it has a build-up which I can only think would be absolutely beautiful to experience live.
Black and Gold is a strong song to end the album, it’s one of the coolest sounding songs on the album and starts off soft before a build-up and talks about how you’d continue to thrive even under the worst circumstances. It wraps the tone of the album up nicely.
FISSION is a good album, which I think I’ll find myself listening to a lot. It sets the bar high for 2024 releases. Dead Poet Society are due to tour starting March 13th in Bristol, there’ll be visiting Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, London, Belfast and Dublin.
I may see if I can tag along to Leeds, but you should have a listen to the album January 26th and see them in your nearest city.