Review: The Stranger – Kaleidoscope

Style: Traditional prog metal (mixed vocals)
Review by: Nick
Country: Australia
Release date: 9th April, 2021

Oh boy, where do I begin. The Stranger is an Australian five piece who just put out the follow up to their 2017 debut. Sophomore releases are hard and can often make or break a band, so I was interested to see if they could put out a suitable follow up to their already solid self titled. Well not only is the release suitable, but it absolutely knocked all of my expectations out of the park. Kaleidoscope is an album filled with awe-inspiring performances, deeply introspective lyrics, and a mountain of subtleties that could be picked apart for ages. Conceptually it focuses a lot on the anxieties we face throughout our daily lives. I’m not sure exactly how much of it was written during quarantine, but it’s a theme that is extremely relevant to the world we live in right now.

My first draft had initially expanded a lot not only on those themes, but exactly what each song was about and what I liked about them. I gave it a whole essay, but the final word count ended up being over 1600 so I felt it was best to essentially rewrite what I had to bring you the review you’re reading right now. I only bring this up to say that even if I doubled the length of this review, I wouldn’t be able to say everything I wanted to say. This album is dense and I tried to touch on as much as possible so without further ado, let’s just jump into it.

The best description I can come up with for this album is that it’s kind of like a melting pot of the best that modern prog metal has to offer. Similarities can be drawn to Leprous, Haken, Caligula’s Horse, among others, but to directly compare The Stranger to anyone would be doing them a disservice. They also have a knack for subtle variety. Instead of five second long jazz interludes or big dubstep breakdowns that you may get from other bands, you have songs like the funky “Siren” being followed a couple tracks later by a song like “The Devil You Don’t”, which could easily be compared to mid-2000s Silverstein thanks to the added metalcore elements on the track. Yet through it all they keep a strictly distinct sound that is easily picked out of a line. Natural versatility is what, in my opinion, separates good prog bands from amazing prog bands. It’s not a skill that many have, but The Stranger has it in spades.

Speaking of skills, let’s talk about the musicians here. Tom Frayne has one of the greatest metal voices I’ve ever heard. His tone can kind of be described as a mixture of Ross Jennings and Einar Solberg, a comparison best exemplified with his vocals on “The Gemini”. As for the instruments themselves, each player is among the best in the genre and not in a mindless way. It feels like each and every note was strongly considered to play a part in a larger picture. Nothing was wasted and nothing was added for the sake of showing off. Riffs are focused, solos are melodic even when in the brief moments of shredding, drum fills are tight, the bass comes to the front occasionally but will often act as support when needed. Nobody is overstepping anybody else and they all work together for the greater good.

Compositionally speaking, this album is fantastic. Prog-heads may be skeptical at an album that doesn’t have a single track breaking the seven-minute marker, but the amount of material that they pack into each and every song is unbelievable. It’s the definition of “all killer, no filler”. A point I made in my original draft about a million times is that almost every single song is so jam packed that they feel like ten+ minute tracks contained in half that amount. Take “Jester” for example. It’s just over six and a half minutes and yet has multiple climaxes and at least four distinct sections. This could have easily been expanded into a twenty minute epic if they wanted to, but the fact that they kept it tight and down to the essentials is an impressive display of restraint for one of the most self-indulgent sub-genres ever.

In all, this is an EXTREMELY solid release from one of the most promising up and comers I’ve heard in recent years. Their sense of melody and skill in songwriting helps them stand out musically, but it’s their chemistry and restraint that puts them leagues above their contemporaries. Definitely keep an eye on this group.

Recommended tracks: Jester, Siren, Kaleidoscope
Recommended for fans of: Haken, Leprous, Caligula’s Horse, Dream Theater
Final verdict: 10/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram

Label: Octane Records – Bandcamp | Website | Facebook

The Stranger is:
– Tom Frayne (vocals)
– Daniel O’Brien (drums)
– Linc Morse (bass)
– Andrew Taylor (guitar)
– Kalen Austin (guitar)