Sometimes you can be oblivious to how bored you are with something until you’re forced into a new experience. If you have a favourite restaurant, for example, it’s natural to gravitate there whenever you want a nice meal, but being taken to a new place instead can open your eyes to a new, exciting world that you wish you’d discovered sooner. Megosh use a lot of familiar ingredients on their latest album ‘Apostasy’, but the way they combine them challenges the rest of the alt-rock genre to think more creatively.
‘Checkerboards & Cigarettes’ is a safe introduction to the album with a solid hook and chunky instrumentals. The impressive lead vocals and catchy alt-rock theme do enough to maintain interest until its successor ‘I Stole From The Dead’ takes the record in a different direction. The introduction of electronic effects and three-part vocal harmonies almost feels like a different band, but as the song progresses, there are themes and consistencies that tie back to the band’s core sound.
‘Carrying Fire’ continues to expand the breadth of Megosh’s massive sound, opening with a slow acoustic period before a heavy riff and energetic drums carry the track in a completely different direction. This chameleonic theme continues across the fourteen tracks of ‘Apostasy’ as Megosh selectively draw on the alt-rock stylings of Coheed and Cambria, Artifex Pereo, Arcane Roots and Deftones to shape their direction, all while maintaining their own, very clear, identity.
Underpinning this ability to contain so many influences in one contagious, cohesive package, is a solid core of highly accomplished musicians. Vocally this record is a triumph; the regular three part harmonies and clever arrangements elevate the melodies and hooks to a whole new level, the most notable being ‘Ask Your Mother’. The guitars are complex and challenging but remain tasteful and in context throughout, as do the drums, which guide you perfectly through the record’s many twists and turns with well-considered grooves.
Despite most songs being around the three-minute mark, every track feels like an adventurous journey through changes of mood and direction. To instil the impression of a prog-rock marathon within the confines of track lengths usually associated with catchy pop songs is a remarkable achievement and leaves you wondering why it doesn’t happen more consistently across the genre. Up to now, Megosh have been something of an unknown quantity, but on the strength of ‘Apostasy’ that needs to change. Not only to give the band the credit that this superb achievement deserves, but to share a new experience with a genre that needs this kind of challenge to prevent it stagnating.
MARK JOHNSON