UK band SUPERFECTA have been around since 2011 or thereabouts, so far with 2014’s debut album “Primal Instinct” as their sole release. While working on their sophomore album, the band released the single “The Abyss” as a teaser for this forthcoming production in the spring of 2018.
This is a good, old fashioned single with two songs, what would have been an A-side and a B-side in the vinyl era. Two rather different songs too, in terms of length as well as content. What they do have in common is that both of them exist on the borders between hard rock and heavy metal somewhere, a border hard to define in the first place of course, and those who listen to this single may well have a hard task in pinpointing this one down into either of them.
Personally I’d say that ‘The Abyss’ is a song that has a lot of the 70’s about it, the main verse parts in particular comes across as a 70’s hard rock song given a slight 80’s metal coating. The chorus section has a bit more of a grunge feel to it, the lead vocal melody lines in particular giving rise to that association, and in a true spirit of yesteryear choice the band opts to elongate this one by way of calmer, subtly psychedelic tinged interludes that are blended in once in each half of the song. When the song itself stretch towards the 7 minute mark, one may also describe it as being ever so slightly progressive I guess, seeing that the song structure as such does reach a bit beyond the norms of what one might describe as conventional.
The other song at hand, ‘Nothing Remains’, is a more stripped down affair as far as structure and complexity is concerned. A fairly straight forward piece with strong tension and drive, and with a wee bit of The Cult sound to it at times, and again I’d say that the vocals is the key detail that invites to that association. That the song as such also has a bit of what I’d describe as hard rock swagger probably strengthens that impression as well.
I enjoyed listening to Superfecta’s debut album, and this single comes with a promise of more and perhaps even better material to surface as the band completes their second album. Those of you who tend to enjoy a band that exist on the borders of hard rock and heavy metal might want to give this single a spin at some point.
My rating: 80/100
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Track list:
1. The Abyss
2. Nothing Remains
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