Artist: Perséide
Album: The Only Thing
Genre: Alternative Rock
Country: France
Release date: 20th of May 2020
Released via: Domino Media Group
Cover Artwork © Domino Media Group
I think it’s not a surprise when I say, we started in our youth with a certain taste of music, but this often does not mean that you have been stuck in the same genre ever since. I started with Linkin Park‘s first album Hybrid Theory, their second album Meteora, and Rammstein‘s fourth album Reise Reise. I am still listening to Rammstein frequently until today, but I lost Linkin Park nearly completely after Collision Course. Some friends of me started with Limp Bizkit, some with Metallica, some with Slipknot or Rage Against The Machine.
Often our taste changes into sub-genres and these big mainstream artists are not in the centre of our focus anymore. But there are times when I like to go back, listening to for example Hybrid Theory again. It feels pretty good, reminds you of the good old times, but you may have the feeling that it doesn’t hit you like 20 years ago. And that’s the point where I must recommend The Only Thing from Perséide.
The biggest thing alongside with the quality of The Only Thing itself is its total retro feel, which I get when I am listening to the songs and albums from this time, but it’s all completely new here. Like a little time machine for your earbuds. Perséide play clean riffs and drums, matched with electronical synth sequences which is a typical thing for this kind of band until today, clear vocals with parts of Screamo. It’s like the band said, “we are mixing all special features of this band and that band and create our own sounds” and that’s something I like very much about it.
For example, the song “The Getaway” sounds pretty much like a The Offspring song, but with a lot of ideas which the band would never use. Great riffs that are getting overwhelmed with too much keyboard using. “Trick or Treat” is a classical song from end 90s/early 2000s bands, changing vocals and great riffs. The song “Skyfall” is a very playful, harder Rock song, which fits perfectly into a lot of playlists. Overall, I must say there is not a single song that I thought is a filler.
The two main songs of the album, which have generated quite a lot of attention on YouTube (over 100k Views), are “Fade Away” and the first song of the album “Sell Yourself”, which are in my opinion the two best songs of the album. They have power, force and this classical vibe which I described earlier. Good selling songs, pretty riffs, nice hard rock parts. “Fade Away” sounds angry compared to a lot of other songs of the album, with more power and rage in it.
Overall, the album has ten typical Alternative Rock songs, it is very diversified from its songs as a whole. What you could miss is a typical Rock ballad that always was on such a kind of album twenty years ago. But I don’t think it’s a miss that this kind of song doesn’t exist on The Only Thing. For me, this is a perfect album for a nice hot summer evening with old friends, cold beer, outside at a lake or in a garden. Just because of the retro feeling I got from this album I must give the band a big THANK YOU.
One thought I even had at the end of the album was – maybe this album and the band will be – for some young people in 2020 – exactly what the bands from our youth have been: the entry into a world full of great albums, genres, people and memories.
8/10
Favourites:
“Fade Away”
“Sell Yourself”
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