Alesana: The Decade EP review

Raleigh, NC’s Alesana have found favor and fans in the metalcore community thanks to their intricate reconfiguration of the genre and re-branding and their latest offering, The Decade EP is rife with power, raw energy and unfiltered drive.

The screams are well coordinated and melded with the cleans to make an energetic blend of tracks that both excite and entice. The pace with which the EP moves forward is an almost playful rolling and rollicking that encourages movement and the flow is almost effortless from track to track, seamless in its transitions. The feeling is as if you are listening to one lone sentiment or soliloquy as opposed to one at a time. It is this seamlessness that helps create the air of continuous energy and maintains the up tempo. Alesana have made a name for themselves by carving out their niche in the self-defined “sweetcore” used to describe their combination of the heavy and the melodic. The one thing that truly stands out about this EP are the moments of pure sonic ferocity in which they unleash the heavier aspects of their sound and temper it with mellower instrumentals.

The balance is almost as palatably sweet as their niche name and it’s because of this that Alesana should find favor again with fans and newcomers to the “sweet” side of ‘core.

Rating: 8/10

-Patricia Jones