Album Review: In Hearts Wake - Ark

Winter brings shitty weather, illness and long nights. Occasionally, an album arrives at the same time, offering respite in the form of an all-out aural assault.

In 2017, that album is Ark. Byron Bay's favourite heavy music proponents have released not so much a concept album, but a record with a distinct theme; water, and its necessity to humankind.

You don't have to dig far to find evidence. The album's tracklist, with titles like Waterborne, Flow and Elemental, gives a none-too-subtle hint of the environmentally-aware theme that carries on from their two most recent releases, Skydancer (2015) and Earthwalker (2014).

Musically, Ark kicks off with a bang. Passage and Nomad both kick out the cobwebs that might be lying in any unsuspecting ear cavity, before In Hearts Wake settle in with a series of dense, quality and, importantly, accessible tracks.

Arrow sees frontman Jake Taylor contrast a melodic vocal line with a trudging rhythm section in the closest IHW come to a ballad, which is sure to alienate fans of the band's harder sound.

Luckily, moments like this are few and far between on Ark. Flow offers a similar vocal style but more complex instrumentation, and the ship gets righted quickly (pun totally intended).