After sharing one single per month during 2023, The Survival Code reveals the whole of their new album, Whispers of Woe. Review.
WHISPERS OF WOE – THE SURVIVAL CODE
There is no going back. These are the words opening London duet, The Survival Code’s epic record, on the song The Heart Will Bleed. Epic is the best word to describe it. In their chords as much as in the chosen formats, the band carries something broken with them, and yet a resolute will to make that next step. This resilience is marked by a deep guitar with biting riffs, effective drums, stout and regular, and these peculiar vocals. The overall result goes from alt-rock with a dash of metal, to hard rock with blues and punk bits.
Whether it is to get closer to someone or an ideal (Never Knew You Existed) or to disagree with it (Digging Your Own Grave), everything is shaped around the guitar-drums duet. It helps to write motivating and pushing-forward songs, taking one day after the other (For Right, Or Wrong, For Better Or Worse; Random Faces) and synchronizing with their internal fights that, sometimes, get brighter as the point of view shifts (We Are Just Fooling Ourselves; Sum Of All Our Parts; Haunted By Myself). Some stay in an accepted chaos, echoing until the end of times (Choreography and Chaos; Can’t Be Explained).
By facing semi-programmed obsolescence, the band seems to reach out to human beings’ fragility through Built To Break. And if the intro of Waiting in the Wings is potent, the band has smartly revealed its vulnerability. To do so, they’ve taken 2023 as a game of patience, releasing one single a month. Of the never-heard-before tracks, I keep the dramatic gothic of Before The Dark Takes All Of Us, the pop motivation of There Has to Be Another Way, the lyrical flights of the guitar on Your Voice, and the serious and grave tone of Weight Of The World.
Here, I found only two small imperfections: the vocals should be louder, and the Deluxe version of 16 tracks is a tad long. However, the art, created by the band, that composes the Deluxe version, complements greatly the music. It’s the attitude, the energy, the passion the band showcases that convinces me here. These songs are made to hit the stage. I am certain they have a mad live potential there, ravishing for the audience. The Survival Code has been able to face many issues and the result is the complete Whispers of Woe.
