‘Burden Calls’, on a first listen, reflects so many punk and pop-punk bands in its sound. At points there’s more than a whiff of Kid Dynamite, someP ropagandhi and even Less Than Jake at their most straightforward. It’s understandable that these comparisons to other bands are arbitrary and may not be flattering to some, but it hopefully shows the scope that ASTPAI’s fifth full-length covers, and how many people this album could appeal to. ‘Burden Calls’ is approachable punk-rock but it never comes off as too shiny and at times the Austrian four-piece really do create some great moments.
ASTPAI come storming in with two tracks which begin the album. The first of them, ‘Single Use’, is anthemic; serving as societal commentary on how much we consume and so on. Sure, the material isn’t groundbreaking but ‘Single Use’ carries it out frenetically, finishing on a really strong chorus which repeats the excellent line, “Talkin’ about our degeneration”. This segues into ‘Dead End Talking’. Reviewing albums sometimes verges onto monotony – due to the endless re-listens – but ‘Dead End Talking’ starts with chords lined up in the most infectious way possible and doesn’t let up.
Everything slows down when ‘After All’, brings a change of pace to the thundering introduction. Calling it a ‘welcome’ change of pace would be wrong but ‘After All’ is a short, melancholic interlude of sorts. Things instantly pick back up and ‘Ground Control’ sticks in some breakdowns too, though things are tamer here, which really does work. The ‘pop’ element of pop-punk kicks in more noticeably as songs like ‘Resignation’ and ‘Ground Control’ are more upbeat – at face value they tell a story about an astronaut who has an overwhelming longing to come back to earth. ASTPAI show how wide-ranging their song-writing can be, thematically speaking.
Towards the end of the album, there are no signs of any lapse. Boasting solid lyricism such as “I see numbers covered by money, And money covered in sweat, And as I strive past all the missed turns in my life, Heads turn from here to the wheels of roulette” in the middle of ‘Small Change’, combined with tight drumming and a lot of welcome shout-alongs, ASTPAI end on a high. Sure, production could be a little cleaner at times to bring out the rhythm guitar a bit more, but the bass grunts and the vocals sear when they should. As a result, ‘Burden Calls’ sounds great and it’s a release which doesn’t need too much time to get hooked onto, nor does it drag on at any point.
SAMARTH KANAL