After their two successful singles It’s Over, Simulation and Concede gained recognition and top 20 status in the 2023 WAM Song Of The Year (Heavy / Metal category), Australian rockers Ivory Dusk dropped their debut EP Tempered on the 9th of June 2023. produced, mixed, and mastered by James Newhouse of Lamb Chop in Bunbury, WA (John Butler, San Cisco, The Waifs), Tempered is going to get you to follow them and tune in for more. Let me tell you about it.
Ivory Dusk opens Tempered with heavy groovy riffs and powerful melodic vocals in Fold You. It has a pounding sound with deep bass and a catchy flow that smoothly escalates into an open-sounding chorus, it takes off from there into a dynamic stream with cool dynamic shifts empowering its catchy arrangement. Ivory Dusk‘s mix of heavy and alternative sounds becomes clearer in their 2nd song Whisper, the atmospheric arpeggios and building-up bass lines right at the intro and verse give 2000s alternative vibes, while their heavy energetic breakdowns, fast melodic riffs, and diverse organic vocal delivery created that balanced mix. In Thrall hits next with a creeping-in riff that explodes into a dense pace that had me headbanging, it has detailed groovy riffs that’ll keep you hooked as it pushes forward in an unstoppable interesting flow. Around the 1:40 minute mark, Ivory Dusk drives us into a brief mellow interlude that builds up into the energetic boost coming ahead leading to a ramp progression that ends the song on a high note. Chase Me comes flexing Ivory Dusk‘s writing skills at the end of the EP. It has a complex, well-arranged and written structure. It starts with an atmospheric approach that keeps getting bigger with added layers and melodies until the vocals take it to the other level. It softly escalates and keeps on building up with some heavy jazzy drumming and flowing speeding melodies, until it hits into a thick dense sound with epic hard-hitting riffs. Its deep moving groove keeps on getting harder pushing the song’s dynamics forward with some fantastic guitar work and vocal delivery, all within an ever-changing quite haunting structure. Amazing way to end an EP!
Tempered is an EP that really shows Ivory Dusk‘s good writing, sense of melody, and direction. They took us on a brief journey through their unique sound giving us a taste of what they can do. Looking forward to more from Ivory Dusk, keep on rocking. Cheers!
