As far as it seems, Wanderlust, released last September, was the first batch of relatively unique brand of modern hardcore from Australian act Carpathian since their promising 2008 full-length, Isolation. Equally promising, this 7" picks up where Isolation left off, with songs that, while not exactly burrowing into your memory's cavity, nestle into a spot that churns and broils with a compelling flow.

I compared Isolation, vaguely anyway, to Modern Life Is War and the Carrier. It's simple to draw those parallels with Isolation (notably with the opening title track), but it feels like Carpathian is starting to better find their own sound (maybe something like a lightweight Hope Conspiracy). They can be a little grimier at points, plowing along a moderately thick and bumping mid-tempo drive with "Ironheart", but kicking up the intensity for "Monochrome", eschewing a finer, more original guitar tone with vocals that sound like a cross between Most Precious Blood's Rob Fusco and a Shai Hulud stand-in. Closing Joy Division cover "Shadowplay" is given a chugging makeover, reminding me slightly of what the aforementioned Hope Con did with their take on Naked Raygun's "Treason".

While Carpathian's songs still exert a ton of effort to stick without the desired end result, they remain interesting and thorough exercises as the band carefully tinker with their sound to try and find more original and striking territory.

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Wanderlust