I found out about Manuel Gardner Fernandes through the fourth edition of "the biggest shred collab song in the world", with his solo blowing me away when I watched it. Wanting more, I found his band and briefly scanned through the recent discography and found this gem of a song.
I was immediately hooked by the gorgeous tapping harmonics, which gave a hauntingly beautiful overtone to the track as a whole. When the main riff came in, I was truthfully quite shocked. It was a tasteful arrangement of notes reminiscent of math rock and musicians like Tim Henson and Ichika Nito. The speed and grace of the riffage was what awed me the most, especially after I tried to learn it.
The vocal rhythm and cadences in the verses are well-designed, short and repeated to drill in the melodic motif. The strong bass and subsequent return of the tapping harmonics juxtapose the vocals eloquently, both as a melodic and temporal complement.
Past the first chorus, which by the way is awesome that they chose to have it be entirely instrumental, the energy amps up as they introduce more elements into the soundscape. As the guitar starts to adopt a grittier tone and the drums become more prominent and vigorous, so does the vocals. I love the climax moment when the bolder vocals trails off into the chorus, now gilded with subtle distortion. It's such a wonder of their musicianship that they could transition from a verse with passionate singing and heavy low notes, into one with a distorted version of the beautiful main riff, and not lose any intensity in the process.
The bass-heavy intermission section after the second chorus is such a clever way to bring the intensity back down after the peak, and transition smoothly into the calm outro section. The tapping harmonics that led us into the song leads us out, leaving us with a beautiful sense of satisfaction and completeness.
I truly do adore how well put together this song is. It doesn't boast a multitude of riffs, and at its very core only has three pieces of riffage. Yet, clever song structure and tone usage let them build the whole song out of these three components. It provides a strong sonic narrative that makes the listening experience more immersive. Not to mention, the guitar mastery needed to even compose such riffs and technicality to play them.
I hate to think of a band as just one of the members, but it's no doubt that Manuel is a core part of the band, and many a times the main man. His side projects and Instagram/Youtube content is a testament to how established he is as a guitar virtuoso, and the name he has made for himself. I'm glad he has a band, to be able to see his creativity bloom in a more musically robust outlet, rather than just guitar instrumentals over backing tracks. This song, for both its guitars and vocals, has become a favourite beyond just the genre.
Rating: 4/5