Album/EP

Aburden - The Last Goodbye (EP Review)

Adam 'Ricey' Rice

/10

Jan 2, 2019

7 min read

Aburden - The Last Goodbye EP
Released: October 12th, 2018

Lineup

Mason Forster // Vocals and piano
Kyle Burrows // Vocals and guitar
Ben Dordevic // Lead guitar
Julian Giuliani // Bass
Kylan Ridings // Drums

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“A collection of songs, painful mistakes, grief and regret. I wish I could have said goodbye. I’m sorry”

I want to begin by saying I am a big fan of Aburden and have been since the release of their first ever debut song ‘face to face’. I first saw them play live in 2016 to no more than ten people in a small band room in the upstairs of a Melbourne pub and have been in love with them ever since. I want to put all my previous thoughts and feelings about Aburden aside for this review as I want to produce an unbiased review of their latest release titled The Last Goodbye.

It’s a slow start to the record with the introductory song ‘My Best Friend’. The track opens with a slightly mood dampening piano melody with clean vocalist KyleBurrows singing over the top which speaks volumes of emotion and pain. There seems to be an element of rawness to this song that I really like. I just think that there is a missing element to this song, it certainly has more potential. All in all, I think it’s a fitting introductory piece to the EP. The next track ‘Sorry’ carries through with the atmospheric feel of regret and sorrow. This one does a great job at showing what Aburden are all about, highly emotional music, a lot of expression and bursts of spoken word throughout. It’s the first song on the EP where we hear the vocals of Mason Forster who tends to mesh with Kyle extremely well carrying the same intensity of emotion throughout.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBbYzHGxdoQ&w=640&h=360]

‘Don’t Say’ is a beautifully written song which is dripping in heartbreak throughout it's lyrical content. I feel as if the hard-hitting lyrics enables the listener to feel exactly where Aburden were coming from with this one. Much like a lot of the other offerings, ‘Don’t Say’ climaxes at the end of the track which wraps it up nicely leaving the emotion behind once finished. Next is ‘One For You’ which is the fastest song on the EP and it works ever so nicely. Kyle’s vocals seem to differ slightly in each track and in this one, he sounds almost monotone with the focus on Mason’s screams while he questions whether it is okay not to be okay. This belter is riddled with tight guitar riffs and has an incredibly strong drum presence. It’s a nice change of pace for the EP.

‘Need You’ starts strong instrumentally. It's faster-pace really helps the instrumentals shine through. As Kyle and Mason sing about "what could have been", it makes me want to dance and sing despite the tragically heartbreaking meaning behind the song. This brings us to ‘19’, one of the EP’s slowest songs. The guitars, bass and drums set the tone for the track while Kyle’s singing perfectly matches it. I feel like this is Kyle’s best work on the EP, displaying his broad vocal range. Mason goes on to excel with his spoken word contribution, talking about how he never got the chance to "say goodbye to someone close" in his life. With intervals of orchestral type singing “I’m so sorry for the things I never said” playing in the background really sets the tone and emotion for the message behind the song.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIhE9Y6XRNo&w=640&h=360]

‘To The Sky’ is my favourite song on the record. It shows how much the band has matured as musicians. Singing about lost dreams and how they have done things in which others had doubted them in, “they said I couldn’t fly, now look at me touching the sky”. With whimsical guitars and bass setting the tone and heavy almost hypnotising drums build up throughout the song. I’m not afraid to call this piece of music a masterpiece. ‘My Old Friend’ is the last and shortest song on the EP. It is only inclusive of Mason playing the piano and begging for forgiveness through his harsh voice, yet powerfully moving lyrics. It is a strong piece to finish upon and leaves the listener with the range of emotions throughout the entire EP.