Second stage for Graphic Nature.
A year after their debut album, Harvey Freeman (vocals), Pete Woolven (guitar), Charlie Smith (bass), Jack Bowdery (drums) and Matas Michailovskis (guitar) unveil Who Are You When No One Is Watching? their second recording, on Rude Records.
The album opens with Who Are You, an eerie chaotic introductory sample that ends with a whisper before Locked In strikes with a modern noisy approach combined with heavy moshparts as the vocalist pours out his aggression. The catchy mix follows in the footsteps of the first album with no downtime, just like Blinded, the next composition, which brings a touch of coldness in its opening moments before regularly molesting us with simple riffs. The devastating break throws us into Human, which seems slightly gentler at first glance, but quickly flares up to return to its usual level of violence, with a slight calming on the final, then the rhythm becomes almost danceable with Something I’m Not and its groovy Trap influences. Nu Metal roots are not forgotten in the surge that leads into Breathe, where ominous samples play a very important role in the track’s dark atmosphere, contrasting the raw violence before Session24 takes its place to offer a very ethereal sound. Once again, it’s impossible to ignore the Hip-Hop traces on this instrumental, but the band come back with the short N.F.A, which will have everyone in the pit in agreement in less than two minutes. Rage resumes without delay with Fractured, a track interspersed with a few brief pauses that barely manage to temper the hurricane that joins Low, a composition that anchors itself even more firmly in the Industrial universe while enjoying the madness of Metalcore. The band follow up with To The Grave, guiding the crowds down the path to the charnel house with its dissonant, jerky riffs before extinction, before When No One is Watching grabs us by the throat and slams us with cutting riffs. A salutary pause awaits us in the middle of the track, but the musicians come back to crush us before letting For You offer us a final fix of explosiveness with a touch of melancholy for the second half, closing the album as it began.
Graphic Nature continues on its path, blending Nu Metal and Industrial roots, sometimes even Trap, to create an energetic, vindictive sound. Who Are You When No One Is Watching? must be defended on stage, whatever the cost!
85/100
