Currents: The Chosen Ones
Life really does seem to have been on the up and up for Connecticut’s CURRENTS for half a decade now. Their 2015 debut (under current lineup) The Place I Feel Safest planted seeds for a band you just knew had glory waiting in their wings. That victory came in the form of The Way It Ends, a sophomore record that, just as we expected, moved the band up several echelons in the world of modern metalcore. And though the genre looks to be bursting at the seams with fresh, young talent in the current day – the five piece now look set for a comfortable ascension towards the top layers of the pyramid.
Vocalist Brian Wille is an interesting piece in the CURRENTS puzzle, he’s not a founding member, but more of a game-changing one. It’s fascinating hearing him break down the set up behind The Place I Feel Safest, as before Brain arrived – the band’s musical direction had already been carved. Guitarist Chris Wiseman had a deep love for the likes of VILDJHARTA and HUMANITY’S LAST BREATH – the kind of bands that when you look back now, absolutely opened doors that would enable the current influx of bands in the genre to flourish.
Brian talks candidly about the effort the band threw into their debut, they were dead set on leaving no stone unturned. “It felt like we had infinite time,” he states. “Because we hadn’t really put anything out – I hadn’t released anything with CURRENTS except one song, and we were writing songs for it [The Place I Feel Safest] from pretty much right when I joined the band. We had time, there was no eyes on us really, we could just do our thing in the dark – no one was waiting for it, there was no anticipation, pressure, or worry. It felt a little like: we don’t really know what we want to have come out of this in the long run, but we’re gonna write music that we think is cool now.”
CURRENTS‘ position becomes more unique when you consider their label, SharpTone Records, had barely begun trading in 2015 – and yet were adamant that Wille and co were the kind of flag bearers they were looking for. The label would eventually go on to house some of the most exciting bands permeating alternative music in 2020 (POLARIS, LOATHE, HOLDING ABSENCE) but it was an undeniable leap into the unknown for the Connecticut crew at the time. It wasn’t until after signing that CURRENTS found out Keith also already had MISS MAY I, EMMURE, and WE CAME AS ROMANS in the bag too. From here it became clear: SharpTone had almost handpicked the quintet to be the young upstarts leveraged against already established acts to carry a whole new sector of youth forward, no pressure.
Evidently being chosen as the band that would help carve the next generation for a label didn’t affect CURRENTS in the studio, The Place I Feel Safest was a solid start, a warning shot of intent. But it’s new record The Way It Ends that really sets the bands mission statement in full swing – it’s a sonic growth in every sense, even more so for Brian than anyone else. His melodic vocals take centre stage on the likes of Second Skin, A Flag To Wave, and How I Fall Apart like never before. It adds a new layer to the band, it feels like their evolution is complete, and it’s something he’s been working on for a while now.
“It’s definitely been a new approach to songwriting, I’m more of a lyrics guy, and I don’t worry too much about song structure, but having such talented guys in the band forced me to step up a little bit and try to fill in what was needed of me for the band. You try to get a big picture before you commit to anything, and once you get that picture of what you want then it makes it a little more limiting and easier to hammer down parts. If you don’t have any direction, it makes it so hard to come up with ideas because you don’t have anything guiding you.”
The Way It Ends, rightfully, has caught fire. The bands first record where eyes were truly on them now has their name on industry lips. But is that a blessing or a curse? The metalcore fan base has proved itself to be at best unpredictable, and at worst outright damning when it comes to bands expanding their sound. Brian feels like more than anything else – some sections of the genre’s refusal to accept change, or move with the times – holds it back, he has a point.
“I think it really does hold the genre back. You know, I love PARKWAY DRIVE and I wasn’t aware there was any controversy about them until I started reading all this crap online. So I go and listen to their new record, and it’s awesome, it’s dark, gloomy, aggressive metal music. I can see them playing on a festival with LAMB OF GOD and GOJIRA, that’s amazing. When a band has a stylistic change and they grow, it should be met with congratulations, you should see it as your friends doing something cool.”
Whether CURRENTS eventually take yet another musical step and throw themselves into the metalcore fan base fire, is, for the time being: irrelevant. The Way It Ends puts them on a pedestal as one of the unmissable, hot prospects in alternative music – in essence, they’ve already been this since 2015. But as the pillars of modern metal begin to shift forward into a new decade, we can rest assured that with bands like CURRENTS at the helm: we’re in safe hands.
The Way It Ends is out now via SharpTone Records.
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