Album Review: Future Palace – Resurgence

German rockers Future Palace return with their fourth studio album, and from track one you can tell they ain’t no rookies. From start to finish, this album feels huge. You’re floating in the ocean that is Resurgence, wave after wave crashing down on you with a few moments of quiet clarity before you’re smacked in the face with yet another breakdown.

Opener ‘Deep Blue’ is a synth and rhythm-laden concoction that feels so massive that it wouldn’t be out of place in an arena. Don’t let the space in the verses fool you, though, as the track shifts into gear for the bridge, creating a perfect start and an even better lead into the title track.

‘Resurge’ is a bucket list live song because you know it’s gonna go hard, practically enticing you to start jumping to prepare for the pit to open up. A song about growth, out of want or need is unclear, but lyrics like “gotta make it work this time, no compromise, I agonised my old self” hint at the former.

It’s hard to imagine a song bigger than the last but this album is one made up entirely of gigantic tracks, an impressive feat given its an achievement some bands could only hope for with a singular song, yet here we are. ‘Supernova’ and ‘Disintegrate’ introduce some fast back beat style drumming and offer up a disorientating experience with their gravity defying vocals and instrumental drops that’ll have your stomach in your throat.

‘The Shades’ wastes no time dropping you in it with “you’re never enough” screamed before trap beats return for the verse. Many of the tracks on the second half of this album drive home the heartbreak felt in life, whether that’s from juggling expectations with reality or being burned by someone you trusted. ‘Nixy’ and ‘Thorns’ are this through and through. ‘Ebb and Flow’ provides a poetic introspection with lyrics that catch you off guard. “The roots of my mind are pretty clear, I am only a result of all my fears” is just one of the lines that might result in a dropped jaw.

From here, there’s a shift, a darkness that creeps in. The atmospheric layers of the instrumentation seem to pull you in as ‘Nightfall’ begins. With a hopelessness that is all encompassing, a post chorus that could easily knock your socks off and a bridge that ensures they stay off. Between the chugging riffs and guttural screams, those crashing waves feel so prevalent at this point in the album.

The hopelessness comes to a head with the anthemic ‘Symphony of the Clouds’, with the somewhat misleadingly titled ‘Tidal Waves’ acting as the calm before the storm. A delicate track amongst a larger than life album. Not the most complex of tracks, but that adds to its charm, with its abundance of layers and spacious solo.

Remember that storm? It’s arrived. Some may say Future Palace saved the best till last with ‘Cyclone’. Encompassing the best bits of all its predecessors. Swirling vocals in the verses, a demanding chorus, and a breakdown that has no right going as hard as it does. It feels almost mean to end on such a banger.

Resurgence is just that. A resurgence. Determined, a force that cannot be stopped regardless of heartache, burnout or whatever life may try to throw at it. With little more that you could ask for from a cinematic post-hardcore album, the question is raised: how on earth will they top this?