Album Review: Dead Letter Circus – The Catalyst Fire

With a debut that peaked at number two in the AIRA charts back in 2010 – plus said record turning gold earlier this year (500,000 sold), Dead Letter Circus couldn’t be in a better position to release their eagerly awaited follow-up album, ‘The Catalyst Fire’, expected in early August.

The Brisbane-based four-piece have spent the last nine months locked away in the studio with their longtime producer and collaborator Forrester Savell to conjure up this 11 track mammoth, and from the off, it’s clear that progression has been a keyword in its conception. DLC’s sound is epic, with a blistering wall of noise coming in at you from all angles. It’s the strenuous vocals of Kim Benzie that are perhaps the only real cause for concern at present. You’ll either love his slightly falsetto approach that wavers around each track, or you’ll just find
them a little irritating.

At times, the whole piece comes together brilliantly, both vocals and instruments reaching a climax of sound (see ‘Lodestar’), whereas, on the other hand, the need for progression gives you a sense that there’s sometimes a little too much happening in such a short space of time (see ‘Say Your Prayers’). With a focussed, driving rhythm pushing the album towards its final stages you’ll find that you’ve been engrossed within the multiple, broad-minded layers that construct ‘The Catalyst Fire’. The band have clearly found their feet. This album proves that they are/were not a flash in the pan.

However, whether this record has the power to sustain such a prolific status as their previous venture is unclear; their live performance will probably give more of an indication, but what is clear is that ‘The Catalyst Fire’ is well worth a listen if you fancy something a little different.

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