Dead Letter Circus - Dead Letter Circus (2018) Hi Res

On 2015’s Aesthesis Australia’s Dead Letter Circus showed signs of mellowing into their stride, subtly putting aside the robust and pain-stricken crescendos that first caught our attention with the expansive This Is The Warning. Aesthesis pointed them in the direction of radio-friendly territory where there’s little place for pronounced heaviness.

With their eponymous album, thank goodness, they haven’t done away with the riffs altogether and those twinkling guitar tones, not to mention Kim Benzie’s consistently dreamy vocals, the standout drumming of Luke Williams and production by Forrester Savell (Karnivool, Skyharbor), have afforded Dead Letter Circus a recognisable sound.

There’s no instant hit here but the quality ingredients that give every track a sheen like the hard-hitting euphoria of Say It Won’t Be Long or the striving Tool-isms of We Own The Light are pushing the guys ever closer to the status they deserve.