Slothrust’s fifth album is a gratifying blend of hard alternative and pop-rock with a folksy twang. On 2018’s The Pact, the Boston band started incorporating more pop melodies and soft crooning into the band’s aggressive repertoire. Parallel Timeline continues that trend, focusing more on storytelling and hooks than on rocking out.
The result is the band’s softest album, a far cry from the grungy assault of 2012’s Feels Your Pain. There are still heavy moments, but delivered in small doses. “I’ll wring out all of those toxins,” Leah Wellbaum sings in “Waiting.” Her choppy vocal cadence lays over slow, brooding piano until each verse is punctuated by a burst of loud, fuzzy guitar.
“Once More For the Ocean” is an uptempo power chord romp, but it lacks the intensity that the song would have carried had it been on an earlier album. That’s partly because Parallel Universe is more polished than any previous Slothrust release. Each song is coated with a pop sheen, with mastering that compresses the highest and lowest sounds for a more even mix. Though “Once More For the Ocean” is a fun head-banger, the mastering, and tone rob it of grit and intensity. “I’m staring at the sun, tripping into the void,” Wellbaum sings over her distorted guitar. “I don’t mind it down here. Nothing left to avoid.”
Parallel Timeline’s best song, and its heaviest, is the apocalyptic “The Next Curse,” featuring Lzzy Hale (Halestorm). “Earth’s gonna set on fire, but still I wait,” Wellbaum croons while playing soft muted notes. Then the chorus booms with an explosion of crunchy guitar riffs and Will Gorin’s pounding drums. “Who’s gonna swallow the blaze after the flood?” Wellbaum asks, her low contralto harmonizing beautifully with Hale’s soaring vocals. The song is anthemic stadium rock with no shortage of thrills.
But the rest of the album shows Slothrust’s softer side. Amid the swirling strings and piano chords of “Strange Astrology,” Wellbaum sings about loving someone that’s a polar opposite. “I don’t mind our strange astrology,” she sings. “I hope we find you bring the best out in me.”
Wellbaum’s soft croon on “A Giant Swallow” caries a soulfulness heretofore unexplored. “I circle the moment; I watch myself fail to fly,” she sings while fingerpicking an acoustic guitar. The emotion resonating in her voice combined with the visceral imagery makes it one of Slothrust’s most impactful songs.
Though it lacks the raw mosh pit fodder of early Slothrust releases, Parallel Timeline shows a new sensitivity, vocals improved in both tone and melody, and plenty of pop hooks while still peppering small doses of heavy rock.
