Having previously crawled out of the pandemic’s haze and into the blurry hangover on their moody 2022 effort ‘Datura’, Blackpool five-piece Boston Manor emerges once again with their fifth release ‘Sundiver’. But while Datura was very much a “the day after the night before”, this new album has its heart set on providing its listeners with a fresh sense of hope and rebirth.
“Could you please open the window, let the new world in” are the first words uttered on the album, fitting then, for an album so desperate to help breathe new life into both the sound and the story of Boston Manor. Having honed their sound amongst the British pop punk and emo scene, Sundiver tries to set itself apart from anything the band has done before.
The chilling digi-vocal effects on “Container” really help to bring a refreshing sense of depth to vocalist Henry Cox’s delivery and the band’s sound as a whole. Meanwhile, many of the songs on the album tend to wear their inspirations on their sleeves, close your eyes, and “Sliding Doors” could quite easily be a Deftones song, yet it does so without feeling like a cheap imitation. It’s easily a highlight of the album, especially with its pounding riffs and Cox’s erratic vocals, but you are somewhat left wishing it could find just one more gear to really kick in.
While the rejuvenation continues on tracks like ‘HEAT ME UP‘, a song that dances and sings with sheer gratitude for the things you find in front of you. The screeching sound of ‘Fornix‘ looks to drive home the reassurance that ‘Everybody is able to love‘. It’ll be easy to fall into the trap of thinking that the album is wholly positive, but the album certainly has its darker moments though, ‘What Is Taken, Will Never Be Lost‘ is proof enough of this, a Portishead-inspired, gut-wrenching and grief-stricken track that swirls in its anguish, fading in and out of itself, a necessary sadness for the cathartic release this album aims to embody.
The album’s conclusion ‘DC Mini’ may start with a few down-trodden chords, but it’s a track that sets to provide the blossom of the life that began anew at its inception, soaring vocal melodies during the choruses, and a deep, transcendent pondering “I don’t know the first thing about how it ends, it resets and starts again” are paired up with a rich shoegaze-esque outro, providing a beautiful thematic ending to the album, but there is a slight let down. The track features the incredible Debbie Gough of Heriot, someone who is in my opinion, one of the best voices in heavy music right now, but who is frustratingly deployed a disappointing amount throughout this song. Instead, we are restrained restrained to mere glimpses of her ferocity.
One thing is for sure, Boston Manor has all grown up. The album displays a level of maturity that helps to provide enough of a distance from their back-catalogue to feel new, but without leaving it so far behind that they forget where they started. It’s hard to escape the fact that this maturity does leave the band feeling too well-mannered at a times, in a time where there is certainly plenty to scream about, the band have definitely taken a more reserved approach. Overall, it’s certainly an exciting time to be a Boston Manor fan, especially as the band set to embark on their biggest headlining tour yet.
