Release date: 24th January 2020
Drowning Regret & Lungs Filled With Water is album number four from dark/experimental metalcore band Atena, and although it perhaps doesn’t hit as hard as past albums, it’s still a fairly decent listen.
It just feels a little more difficult to get into than their previous releases. Whereas the slightly chaotic approach has worked for them in the past, in both their live shows and albums, Drowning Regret & Lungs Filled With Water feels a little different. The songs don’t quite slot together as the album progresses, and the flow is jerky as a result – it’s a bit all over the place, and whilst there are individual songs that really slay, it’s a struggle to fully connect because of this.
That’s not to say Drowning Regret & Lungs Filled With Water is inherently bad, because it’s not. Whilst musically the songs don’t progress well from one to the next, when it comes to the themes and lyrics it’s another story. The inherent darkness and slightly uneasy topics are somewhat unnerving at times, and perhaps this is why the band have chosen to give the album a more jerky flow, as it gives the album more of an unnerving vibe as a result.
On a musical note, seventh track Domestic Abuse, which the band have already released as a single ahead of the album’s release, is quite possibly one of the best songs Atena have ever created. I’m a big fan of the varied vocal approach the band uses, and the rapped lines paired up with the clean lines work well alongside the melodic instrumentation.
Drowning Regret & Lungs Filled With Water is still a decent album from Atena that is worth checking out – it just needs a little bit more fine-tuning at times.
6/10
