If you are aware of Australian rock band Subjektive through their excellent My Perception EP of 2010, then you will have a good idea of what to expect from their debut self-titled album which has just been unleashed upon the world, though saying that you will still be blown over by the force of the storm which drives the excellently crafted songs through the ear. If you are new to the Melbourne trio then you are without doubt in for one muscular treat. Fusing the finest sinews and invention of rock to the strongest aggressive intensity and spite within metal, Subjektive creates a sound which leaves the listener bruised, battered and very satisfied.
The band was formed in 2008 by vocalist/bassist/guitarist and songwriter Aaron ‘AzCORE’ Stevenson, a musician who after playing in many successful and respected band wanted to create his own self termed rock driven metal, bringing the melodic textures and bone crushing might of both genres in a fluid and expressive bulldozer of a sound. The line-up was completed by the addition of drummer Luke ‘MasTemA’ Beltramello in 2009 and guitarist Joel ‘Chamber’ Moriss the following year with the band soon laying waste to audiences with their immense live performances and the release of My Perception. The threesome was soon drawing a rapidly growing legion of loyal fans not only in their homeland but around the world as well as receiving with radio play across the globe on the likes of The Bone Orchard. Their new album shows the band has evolved further since the EP, their sound still a merciless rage against the senses but with a further maturity to its textures and acutely crafted facets. The album is like a brawl between the likes of Machine Head, Mudvayne, Devildriver, Sevendust and Bloodsimple, an excellent fusion of sounds which caresses, charms, and lights up the passions with melodic excellence whilst unrelentingly turning the senses into a grateful staggering victim of explosive rhythms, destructive riffs, and combative intensity.
The release opens on insidious whispers as Veins emerges from the chilled mists. Soon tight highly charged riffs crowd the ear 
whilst the bass prowls within their scorching touch and the drums cages the whole affair. It is not the most aggressive track on the album it emerges but with the continually licking serpentine sonics and ear lashing growls of Stevenson it is an intimidating pleasure. Into its stride the track herds thoughts and emotions into a blissful place whilst snapping the senses into satisfied slithers of primal engagement.
It is a great start soon slapped into its place by the rampaging R.D.M., a track which stomps on the wounds already incurred with heavy booted riffs and leaden rhythms. Throughout the tempest an infectious groove ignites an additional heated pleasure whilst the fiery solo is a delicious topping to an excellent song. The established quality is unrelenting through the likes of Too Far Gone with its stirring and rampant blaze of rock melodic warmth and corrosive metal abrasiveness, the blistering and intense Mental, and the expressive chewing of the ear masquerading as Watch This Space, all crushing riots of towering energy and attitude with honed weaves of melodic grandeur and imagination pouring from their formidable stances.
Further highlights come with the ever impressive Coward, a track which featured on their earlier EP, as do another pair on the album, and still stands as a classic and fully pleasing confrontation matched by the sensational Split From One Source. The first is a powder keg of adrenaline and anger thrust through the ear with crippling rhythms and unbridled creative energy whilst the second is a track which opens and closes on a wonderful emotive wash of just vocals and guitar within a chilling atmosphere. In between the song is a glorious journey of emotion, passion, and enterprise moving through multiple layers of intensity and sound whilst combining the warmth of melodic rock to the malevolence of extreme metal seamlessly and majestically. It is a song with a completely unique presence to the others showing the depths of the songwriting, imagination, and skill of the band. If you had to muster a slight criticism of the album it would be a similarity between some of the tracks in their breath but certainly not here.
Finishing on another sonic and merciless maelstrom in Shattered (Wasted), the album is an outstanding release which will ignite fires in rock and metal fans alike. Subjektive take no prisoners but they treat you right at the same time with one of the finest albums of 2012.
RingMaster 20/12/2012
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