Album Review: Pyrotechnica - Through The Looking Glass

Frequent readers of this site might have noticed, but as time has gone on, I have gotten more philosophical with my commentary, spending less time breaking down the minutiae of albums, preferring to focus on the larger picture. It makes my life easier, sure, but at a certain point I decided that the amount of music I listen to makes it impossible to keep the details of every release straight. What became important is how a record fits in with the times, with my taste, and with the competition. Especially when writing about new or upcoming bands, I find this approach allows me to better synthesize my thoughts, and determine which bands are worth following.

Pyrotechnica is another new-ish band I am just hearing for the first time, who fit into the style that has seemed omnipresent and dominant. If hooky rock bands with female singers and female perspective is going to be the trend that comes out of the current malaise, I'm down with that.

The angle Pyrotechnica plays, as the name implies, is that they have electronic beats spliced in with their heavy rock, which gives them a thoroughly modern sound. They are probably on the cutting edge of where the scene is going, which is boon to them if things indeed keep going that way, and in the meantime it reduces the competition. Almost none of the bands I would compare them to are doing it quite like this, so just on that basis, being considered rather unique is a good starting point. There is one album that also came out this year I can directly compare this to, but I'll get to that at the end.

The first track I heard, and the one that captured my attention, was "Act This Way". That song is a banger, throwing together the modern style of guitar playing, some unexpected and unusual sounds, and a huge chorus that drives everything home. It's a perfect single, and it's the reason I'm talking about this album. That's what a single is supposed to do, capture your attention, but you'd be amazed how often the wrong songs get picked.

What I appreciate is that Pyrotechnica throws a host of influences into the mix. "Ghost" has some vocal cadences that have hints of hip-hop, while "Play For Keeps" almost has a hint of Babymetal in the vocal timbre. This is certainly not an album with the same song played ten times over. I give them a lot of credit for avoiding that. They also deserve credit for consistently delivering the hooks and melodies the music demands. Scarlett Chang does a great job of using her voice to balance the rhythmic music with a melodic base. It would have been easy for a lesser singer to let the songs get away from them, to fall into the trap of trying to match the heaviness with their voice. She doesn't, and it's all the better for that.

As I mentioned, there is a record that takes the same approach I've heard recently. That would be the New Years Day record, "Unbreakable". They both are filled with of-the-moment guitar playing, and a strong pop sensibility. Pyrotechnica doesn't quite have the killer songs New Years Day did, but they also don't have a host of songwriters helping them achieve radio domination. They're doing just fine on their own. Sure, I would say this isn't quite the best album of the style I've heard this year, but it's still good. And Pyrotechnica has plenty of room to grow into something even greater.