EP Review: Polaris ‘The Guilt And The Grief’

Think of The Amity Affliction mixed with old school Bring Me The Horizon and you’ve got the fresh-faced upcoming 5-piece Polaris. After recently touring Australia with Dream On Dreamer, Polaris have released their sophomore EP ‘The Guilt And Grief’, and it’s a ripper.

“Just enough unclean to make you want to smash things, but the right amount of clean for you to remember that it’s illegal and you probably shouldn’t.”

Easy listening melodic hardcore that has been cleverly mixed together to be sure not one element in any track over powers another, which created an incredible layering effect between each instrument. I have never experienced this before and it left me with shivers running down my spine.

There’s no mucking around with these guys especially when listening to their track Voiceless. As soon as the song starts it’s straight into hard hitting guitar notes and insane drum beats and then you’re smashed by vocals just 8 seconds in.

Well-recorded clean and unclean vocals both sound just as clear as each other, although that may sound a little confusing. There always needs to be an element of clarity in screaming and the same goes for diction when someone is singing. Polaris hit the nail on the head with this as Jamie Hails’ voice swiftly drew pictures over each track as though it was minimal effort for him to be singing at all.

I’ve always been big on hardcore music that has a happy medium of clean and unclean vocals. Just enough unclean to make you want to smash things, but the right amount of clean for you to remember that it’s illegal and you probably shouldn’t. I don’t have one bad thing to say about this EP and I definitely think the ‘Guilt and The Grief’ is an EP to get behind and Polaris are a band worth giving the time of day.

Polaris Live Dates
THUR 11 FEBRUARY
Crowbar, Brisbane
FRI 12 FEBRUARY
Red Rattler, Sydney
SUN 28 FEBRUARY
Rad Bar, Wollongong (All Ages)
FRI 4 MARCH
Enigma Mar, Adelaide
SAT 5 MARCH
Worker’s Club, Melbourne