Review: Violent Delights by Galleons released via Famined
Galleons holds a special place in my heart as being a band I discovered in my first couple of months reviewing music. I sort of think of 2020 as the reformation of my tastes and Galleons was a welcome slot in the roster. Post-hardcore was something I grew up on but felt stale as I got older. Their last two records are ones I look back on fondly and if I’m being honest, I sort of felt this would be the album where I would start to grow tired here as well.
But no, I was wrong, they did it again.
On every album, while certainly within the same genre, the band sort of take on new elements and use them to change the old formula around. Violent Delights is no different, right from the beginning the band shows off a synth riff leading into a more traditional instrumental piece to show you just what the new ingredients are. Speaking instrumentally, I feel “You Who Swallowed a Shooting Star” is an incredible demonstration of the growth Sergio has undergone as a musician since the self-titled project. So much of this opening track is him just getting lost in his own art and this continues the whole record long. The sonics here are explosive, songs like “Kiss the Sky” have gentle, heartfelt moments only to pull you back into the throws of it with a riff or breakdown. All of this is in perfect balance and feels earned every step of the way.
Even the things which have stayed that have stayed the same have improved. Vocalist Tom Byrne used to do little vocal riffs and outros on previous projects to show off but now a song like “Cashmere” is a flex within itself and this is just when he’s not doing it on purpose. He’s also become a markedly better vocalist, immediately apparent on track one where he takes his usual fairy tale themes and amps them up to a much better form. He has also just become more honest in his songs, and some feel downright heart wrenching.
I drew a map of the stars beyond Venus and Mars just to show her the way.
To the left of Jupiter, right of Saturn, the lines I draw for her create a pattern.
I think “Vagabond” is the right call for best track here, at least if we’re excluding the features. Both guitar and piano here are absolutely erupting, there’s barely any rest throughout. Even when there is a rest it's a heartbreaking piano interlude. Tom sounds the most upset I think I’ve heard him on any song by any band, talking about moving from place to place but he must also move on from the people as well, especially the ones who’ve left him. The “guess you lied line” really stands out as well as the various styles in the backing vocals.
There are a handful of features on the record starting with Ryo Kinoshita on “Deadman Wonderland.” Ryo has a different voice than usual and there’s an interesting composition in the vocal melodies which feels like they could belong to a concept record. We haven’t done this since the new format, but I think this could be a second favorite track. I don’t feel totally comfortable with Craig Owens here at the moment, but he does offer Tom a vocal partner who can keep even pace on “Dungeon Dweller.” Andrew Wells, less problematic but still worth a mention, harmonizes and harmonizes well on the album’s outro. Ironically this is the role he was given on the latest Dance Gavin Dance record but here at least it feels like he’s utilized.
Violent Delights is a representation of the growth of a band. If you took “Russian Roulette” or the title track and toned down the sound quality a bit either could be an outlier on Metropolis. This isn’t to say Galleons lacks variety, “Crybaby,” which closes things out, is the sweet cherry on top. The song’s outro is steeped in an upbeat, double time mood not present on the rest of the record. So again, even though all these songs are on the same line, they arrive in vastly different places from 2020 to now and maybe the next installment will be an even grander one. For all of this, the band’s consistency and with my only gripes being the album is a little bloated in the second half, I think this is another great showing from this duo.
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