Banks Arcade were originally formed in New Zealand but now they are based in Australia. This is their long awaited sophomore album out with Arising Empire. This one contains twelve songs. Banks Arcade are very interesting to me, because they mix aggressive hardcore, metal, electronic song parts underneath pop punk emotions and melody. I love how metallic parts fit perfectly into electronic underneath the song structures and I love the use of electronic parts done smartly, like here. The lyrics are personal and love how singer jumps from metalcore screams, hardcore shouting to beautiful clean melodic parts. Some would say this kind of music is poser and commercial, but I like this band and this album very much. Hmmm, maybe I am commercial in my almost fifties haha. Anyway, I would love to hear how these songs sound live, hopefully one day I will. My personal favorites on this record are Don’t Miss, Severance and Last Time, but with every listening I discover something more, so it is a great record in my opinion.
8,5/10
