Astronoid – Radiant Bloom (Review)

This is the third album from US post-metal band Astronoid.

Combining post-rock, shoegaze, ambient, and progressive metal into a compelling and contemporary post-metal framework. Radiant Bloom is a 46-minute journey through mysterious cosmic realms, where unusual and awe-inspiring sights and plentiful.

If you think of a curious sort of a mix between Alcest, Deafheaven, and Devin Townsend, you’ll have a starting point for Astronoid’s striking style.

The band’s delivery is intricate and nuanced. As the promo blurb states, Radiant Bloom is a balancing act between aggression and emotion. Sometimes one gains the upper hand at any given moment, but the album is always ripe with feeling and atmosphere, as well as more of a serrated backbone than you might be expecting.

The album is a vivid dreamscape, filled with emotive colour and rich presence. It’s warm and hypnotic, with expressive synths and ethereal cleans, but doesn’t lack musical bite when it needs to have it. The overall effect is delicate and bright, but with an occasional extreme metal blackened edge in places. This latter aspect is confined to the music alone, and the aforementioned ethereal cleans are highly melodic, rich, and well-sung.

The music’s situational heaviness is well-realised within its stylistic atmospheric and feeling-driven boundaries. The well-written songs make the most of the space they have to breathe and expand into themselves, and whether it’s fragile lightness or fiery, uplifting aggression, Astronoid strike the right, well-judged tone throughout.

Radiant Bloom is just the thing if you’re looking for something a bit different to the norm. If a big shot of emotive shoegazey post-metal does it for you, then look no further than Astronoid.

Highly recommended.