[rating=8.00]
AAARTH, the fourth album from Welsh trio The Joy Formidable, is an aggressive collection of pulse-pounding hard rock that deftly combines raw power with melodic hooks. The fat, midrange-heavy distorted guitars and pounding drums seem more fit for an era of flannel and Doc Martins than the current alternative scene, but the Joy Formidable isn’t just a throwback band. Melodic guitar lines, synth flourishes, and pop vocal melodies ground the music in the here and now, but with a bit of an edge.
AAARTH starts on a high note, beginning with two of its best songs. “Y Bluen Eira” is a frenetic adrenaline rush of an opener, pitting rapid-fire vocal melodies against deep, distorted string bends. Singer-guitarist Ritzy Bryan’s jerky, repetitive riff anchors “The Wrong Side” as she lays down poetic imagery of a decision point in a journey. “You guess which way is back and I’ll guess when we’re leaving,” Bryan sings.
After the first three tracks set AAARTH’s hard rocking tone, the album lets in more sonic diversity to cut across the band’s influences and avoid monotony. “Cicada (Land on Your Back),” one of Joy Formidable’s best songs, contrasts Bryan’s heavy guitar with a clean Middle Eastern riff resembling a sitar and Rhydian Dafydd’s swaying bassline. The folksy vocal melody of “The Better Me,” with Bryan and Dafydd singing about finding self-acceptance, contrasts the start-stop riffing. “Pushing the shame off my back, telling the soul walk tall and don’t lose track,” they sing over a sludgy guitar groove.
The meandering “Absence” is AAARTH’s only bad song, its slow piano balladry failing to evoke emotion or deliver any catchy melodies. Luckily, it is followed by the outstanding “Dance of the Lotus” to get the album back on track, its pulsing synthesizers bubbling to an anthemic chorus as the guitar crashes in. “Don’t wake up; I just need this time alone with the sky that forgives me silently,” Bryan sings.
Throughout AAARTH, the Joy Formidable deliver a controlled aggression, tearing through heavy rockers while maintaining melodic accessibility. Bryan’s subdued vocals temper the potentially dramatic compositions, avoiding the pitfalls common to arena rock. After throwing a few punches early in the album, the Joy Formidable settle in and mix in the big rock moments with more a more colorful palette that allows AAARTH to breathe without buckling under the constriction of its harder moments.