Album Review: ARRIVAL OF AUTUMN Prove Canada Has Aggression With “Harbinger”

Let’s face facts rockers, outside of hockey most of the world knows Canada for being strangely nice. Sure we got Kittie from Canada but the other Canadian bands that instantly come to mind when discussing rock and metal are Rush and Diemonds. Both of whom rock but aren’t exactly aggressive. Well the times are changing and Arrival Of Autumn have enough aggression while still being melodic on their debut album Harbinger to get a five minute major penalty.

Out of the gate Jamison Friesen hits you with varying levels of aggressive vocals with clean vocals mixed in while still being completely understandable. With so many new bands the aggressive vocals get lost and become completely unknown unless you follow liner notes. But not Friesen, he’s managed to find that sweet spot where it’s pure aggression but you know what he’s saying. That means the fans can learn the lyrics and sing it back with the band which is the quickest way to grow a fan base.

Just check out “The Horror”, sure the haunting sound effects and monstrous chasing guitars of Brendan Anderson and Ryan Sorensen scream horror movie but Friesen’s screaming vocals add to it as he says “there’s something coming to find you.” Making the chorus drills it home when most other bands would just have their singer growl continuously thinking that passes as scary when it really isn’t.

You’ll also notice that Arrival Of Autumn aren’t afraid to throw some old school guitar solos throughout the album. All to often I’m finding these newer bands prefer to show of techniques by having the guitars change rhythms mid song rather then toss together leads that show skill over technique. The opening song “Hurricane On The Horizon” has one as does “Symbiotic” which could’ve been a great song for Marvel’s Venom had it come out before the movie.

Arrival Of Autumn are a young band acting just like a rookie at an NHL training camp – fast, hard, and ready to go. Harbinger is a strong introduction of what these guys can do and makes them a contender for the starting line up of the next wave of metal.