Polaris - The Death Of Me | Entire Album REACTION! 

Drop a 👍🏽 on this video fellas. On holiday in 🇵🇹 atm - Vildhjarta up next when I’m back home!🙏🏻

You should also think about doing a reaction to Currents-The way it ends. Really good album and came out in the same year as this.

I appreciate your honesty given that a lot of reaction channels are interested only in puff pieces/promotion and veer away from negative criticism at all costs. That said, my rebuttal to your early criticism of this record is that it feels (to me) that the bar you’ve set for what does and does not impress you seems unreasonably high. Don’t get me wrong - The Dark Pool, Obsidian and I Let It In and It Took Everything aren’t just among my favorite records of the last decade of metalcore, but among my all-time favorite records - but not every record in a given genre has to reinvent said genre, most exist simply to reaffirm the great and occasionally unique characteristics of the given genre. To me, the Death of Me is everything great about this era of metalcore. Formula done well with super solid execution, not a single skippable track when I play it through, and sometimes that’s all I ask for.

I think with Polaris it's a lot about the quality of the execution, and conviction behind it, more than pure innovation

IMO Polaris should be the entry level band people listen to if they want to get into metalcore. They follow typical metalcore “cliches” but do it in such a tightly executed, catchy, bouncy, unoffensive way. Every member of the band is fantastic and fits together into a perfect metalcore package. They don’t do anything groundbreaking or genre-breaking, but they do everything within the genre at the highest level. They also have a lot of diversity in style while still fitting into the metalcore tropes. You get the tappy-boi progressive metalcore, the sludgy, grungy hardcore-style metalcore, the poppy, uplift punk-style metalcore, you get it all. They’re also fantastic song-writers and probably the best in the genre along with August Burns Red at writing transitions to segments in their music. Definitely top tier metalcore.

While Jamie does do some clean vocals, the bass player does the vast majority of them. So you were correct in assuming it was two vocalists. Also, I still believe you did yourself a disservice not listening to The Mortal Coil first. It's probably closer to what you were looking for anyways.

Just a quick note about 57:10, the bassist Jake Steinhauser is doing the clean vocals on the majority of their choruses.

While this band is formulaic, they have a way of executing it so well. They really nail the essence of metalcore. For me, when I listen to Polaris I'm not looking for something genre breaking. I've been jamming this album constantly since it came out,and it always hits that metalcore itch. Don't worry about not liking/loving it though. Your tastes are your own, and there is nothing wrong with that!

I'm glad you mentioned that Red Summer by Thornhill grew on you. Its literally my favorite song of all time.

Honestly appreciate your candor and honesty about not being too into this. I love Polaris, and in my opinion bring enough newness to what metalcore is becoming to what it used to be. Nothing groundbreaking like you said, but just done damn well. Seeing live videos and relating to the lyrics drives them to being one of my favorite bands currently, but I also totally get how some people aren’t as into it. It’s all opinion and preference. Enjoy holiday!

Fuck I'm early! Love the reaction! I'm a big polaris fan. But I get you with a lot of things you say. I see this band as the "perfect" Metalcore band. Saying that, if anyone asked me what does metalcore sounds like. I'd show them this band. Keep the reactions coming man! Love your content 😊

Hey man i love your full album reactions. And don't worry about not liking stuff. I think it's great the way you talk about it and I personally don't want you to just say you like everything just to please people, i like that you're being as honest as you are. And with how subjective music taste is its perfectly fine to not like stuff or being not into stuff as much as other people praise it. Keep doing what you do man. Much love

This album is SO fkin good, and you're right: the appreciation will come randomly when you listen to it on the side at some point. Like with D1cks some metal is growers some is showers 😉

Personally, I think the Mortal Coil is a far superior album. Highly reccomend checking that one out!!

I absolutely ADORE this band. Theyre one of, if not my top favorite metalcore band in the scene right now right along with Bleed From Within, Crystal Lake and Motionless In White. These guys are absolute trailblazers and are masters at the craft. Cannot wait for them to come to the U.S. so I can meet them.

love Polaris, one of my all-time favourites. also i've come to really enjoy waiting for you to drop album reactions :D

Finally! Im really excited for this, gonna grab a snack an enjoy. I really apreciate your honesty btw

Agreed Creatures of Habit is the best song on the album. Ive listened to that song probably 1000 times over the last couple years. I just love the riffs, the chorus and the breakdowns. One of my favorite metalcore tracks of all time.

You should do a series where you speak on the albums that grew on you or the opposite. It wouldn't have to be very often obviously, but it would be interesting to hear what you thought about albums that you didn't like as much, or loved that kinda fell off for you a bit. You could make more of the videos as your reaction catalog builds over time. I know you talked about it in a recent video where you said Obsidian by Northlane grew on you even more after the reaction because deeper cuts on the album became staples in your rotation. But I would really love to hear if your opinion's changed on Singularity, this album and especially Heroine by Thornhill in the future. I had your same opinion on first reaction of Heroine but after a couple of relistens, I fell in love with the aesthetic and distorted sound of the album. It's the same way I felt about certain songs by Polaris. Just a thought though, Love the content obviously! Keep it up man!

The end of Red Summer is probably my all-time favorite thornhill moment (that or the outro to Casanova) chills every time.

Saw Polaris live, was so fkn epic!🇦🇺 love from Australia 🤘🏾 Awesome reaction btw 🤘🏾

Thanks for getting to this, it’s one of my favourites. I think you should definitely check out the album “The Chosen” by Enterprise Earth. They’re a Deathcore with absolutely insane riffs, breakdowns and different influences throughout.

Love your review man, Polaris are one of my favourite bands and i think you were pretty spot on with how you feel as far as their sound not necessarily being 'unique' in metalcore as a genre, (though at least to me they do 'generic' very very well) but the thing i find about Polaris is like you said early on they're very much a "grow on you" kind of band which sounds a bit odd given they don't do much different. its a thing i find pretty often across not only this Album but all their songs is they *always* have a song that fits how you feel or what you want to listen to. They're a great band to just have interspersed through your daily listen, the album probably isn't a great one to listen to front to back as a whole experience like some others but as you run each song back individually over time they just grow on you more and more and they become a highlight as they pop up randomly through your regular listening. At least thats how i find they are for me, hopefully they grow on you maybe check out some of their older stuff at some point if thats the case.

Love this album Drew! Would love to see you do landmvrks lost in the waves album reaction sometime soon! I feel like you would enjoy them. Cheers mate

What a nice surprise. I respect your opinion and your honest words. (I will definitely come back to your channel because of you being honest. Sometimes I watch reactions and the reactor hypes everything without thinking about it.) This has become one of my favorite albums since I discovered it last year. But if your listeners hyped up the album, then I can see that your expectations are not met. To be fair: This album was definitely a grower. You talked about this in the beginning of the reaction. Here is my story with it. It was recommended by YT. I listened to it while working. And I kept going back every day. I didn’t even knew the artist. And a few week laters later I bougt it on iTunes and their album that was released before this album. It is the energy. This band came out of nowhere (in my perception). And the cleans are not standard metalcore (in my opinion). I love that they are in harmony with the screaming (layered). (English isn’t my first language, so I am not as well worded as in my native language.) It isn’t "weichgespült und glattgebügelt", soft rinsed and smooth out. I have listened to a lot of Metalcore (my favorite genre) and this album was a fresh breeze. Thank for sharing your full reaction to this album, Drew. Enjoy your holiday.

While I love this album, their first album The Mortal Coil is just so much better imo. I feel like half of the riffs on Mortal Coil are straight up in my top ten riffs ever which is crazy. Only song that comes close to that style is probably Creatures of Habit. Still, Death of Me is great and was one of my favorites of 2020.

There is so many great and talented bands coming from Australia! Can't wait when you react to Alpha Wolf too.

I'm so happy you did this album. Easy AOTY 2020 for me tbh. It did well but I still feel like it didn't get the attention it deserved. So stoked to watch this now :)

Melodic moments in this album shine the most for me, the heavy tracks are good too. I appreciate that you're not just singing the praises of every album you listen to and if you dont like it you'll say it 👍Metalcore can indeed be very repetitive especially if you listen to multiple metalcore albums in rapid succession as you have been doing. It's the reason I've branched out and listened to more out there bands and genres like a Vildhjarta, or a Polyphia, or go to technical death metal with bands like Fallujah, I know you dont like blast beats but Fallujah you might like, their album Dreamless has a lot of groove sections along with blast beat 😉

I’m gonna need a bad omens death of peace of mind album reaction soon please and thank you. Noah is a crazy good vocalist

I met Jamie at a We Came as Romans show a few years ago. Never heard of Polaris before then. Their show blew me away. Made an instant fan out of me and I had to go to the merch desk and say hi. He's such a cool dude very genuine and warming

Polaris is my favourite band alongside Erra, but I appreciate your honesty, and everything is subjective :D. Would urge you to check out Currents - The Way it Ends. Suuuch a good album.

One of my absolute favorite metalcore bands I’ve ever listened to. I’ve worn this album out along with their first. So glad I’m hearing you react to this. Amazing album.

I appreciate to putting the lyrics on screen. Nice.

Love this album and LOVE THAT YOU DRINK MONSTER MANGOS!!

RIP Ryan Siew 💔

i think the problem is that you started with the best albums for example (loathe i let it in) and now going to straight up metalcore it’s just to simple and straight forward for ya haha

Drew I know I probably have to be on Patreon to suggest an album but.. Alphawolf - A Quiet Place To Die. Id love to hear your thoughts on it because its such a beatdown, meat head, cave man sort of an album and its so fucking groovy. Nothing like the tecnhical stuff you've grown to love. Been here for a long time watching you grow btw. Much love to you. I love Polaris so much and I respect your honesty!

One of my favorite albums from 2020

Great Álbum...Great Band

This album is soooooo good ❤️

Solid metalcore album, but as you mentioned, it’s in the same vein as other metalcore acts. Can’t wait for you to check out metalcore that has its own flare, like Alpha Wolf (Aussie hardcore influence) and Tallah (90s nu-metal mixed with metal/deathcore, then turned up to 30)

What I love of this band is “live” they are on another level

I think as a casual listener of the genre I can totally see how one would see this as just more decent metalcore. I think where the community holds them in such a light is their musicianship. From a musicians perspective, the riffs they write, and the way they compose their music is very unique and technically impressive. And their production and mixing is also top notch. Their lyricism is also really good. Not to mention Jamie's vocals are killer. Also it's funny that you mentioned it sounds kind of cookie cutter because Polaris has done pretty well with mixing up their song structures in one way or another. Either way, I appreciate the honest reaction though.

Yes, this álbum Is a Banger

I found Polaris on their album before this "The Mortal Coil" and two of their songs just resonated with me and absolutely make me break out in to a full on dance moment. From that Polaris grew on me and made me intrigued by them. This album was good, but yes nothing mind bending or genre changing. I don't think they need to be, but it does mean that I sometimes completely forget about this album. Polaris is still a band I will follow and will always want new music from, but yes this album didn't grab me like I wanted it to. I appreciate the honesty and transparency. Keep doing what you're doing, and always keep true to yourself.

I love Polaris, and although I don’t listen to them daily necessarily, I have seen them live 11 times and they genuinely get better each time. Without a doubt one of the most phenomenal sounding live bands. Individually, every member is unbelievable at what they do, and together they play so incredibly tight and never miss a beat live!

This album didn't catch me as quickly as The Mortal Coil did, but after a few listens I do really like it. I feel like what you said about initial reaction versus a few weeks is super accurate, especially when people who request that you listen to it have spent the time to learn the nuances. I'm interested to see what you think of this album in 3 months.

Saw them live with Northlane, Void of Vision and Silent Planet what a show it was and Australia rules metalcore nowadays

Still a massive fan of this band. Listened to their first full-length, "The Mortal Coil," like crazy. This album was good, but most of the songs weren't very replayable. I revisited the last two tracks (All Of This Is Fleeting and The Descent) most often since the release because there was plenty of depth in those two. Overall, solid album, but I'm very much looking forward to see if they progress or regress in their next album.

This album is SO FUCKIN' AMAZING! Pretty much peak Metalcore! This album should go down as one of the best! And you should definitely check out their first album, which people find better. For me it's pretty even.

Drew you have to check out Thornhill’s ep butterfly!! Came out before the dark pool.. slaps very hard 😏

Would love to see you "Sundowning" by Sleep Token... crazy vocals & instrumentals.

Their vocalist Jamie has always given me huge Underoath vibes. Dude sounds so Spencer Chamberlain

You’ve got to give The Mortal Coil a go, my favourite album!

Like u said it's nothing flashy but u can't deny the quality. It's just metalcore done really well. I love the uncleans in particular.

Everyone breaks at "All of this is Fleeting", it spares no one.

That “technique” you’re referring to in “Creatures of habit” is done to make you think the tension will be released, but they sustain that tension to make you feel like there hasn’t been a resolution. Then a little later when the chorus comes in, is when you feel that “ahh” moment. The release of tension

The video to Masochist is worth a watch whether you react to it or not. It’s amazing and stars the singer of two other great Australian heavy bands.

When I first heard Polaris I didn’t like them and skipped them every time but they grew on me, they are definitely a grower band but awesome video

u should listen to greyhaven this bright and beautiful world album, sick riffs and bass!

I just thought that it would be amazing if you check out A Quiet Place To Die by Alpha Wolf. I just love their chaotic style and energy and I think the other viewers do too.

Hopefully you'll get round to Alpha Wolf that lost the vote. Insane album. Aussie Metalcore is taking over

They very similar to the old Architects and Erra to me and i love it

I find some people are constantly looking for "revolutionary" things in music and that seems to take away from the enjoyment those people can have since they are focusing too much on searching.

33:35 That's the prechorus! Anything that always signifies the chorus showing up is called the prechorus; in a lot of songs bands use a prechorus and then double the length of it for the last chorus to give a really heavy idea of a progression. Think of it like a small bridge that only exists for the verses and not a "bridge" in the whole-song sense that normally comes before the final chorus. Some people also call these parts "B-sections," but that's actually used to talk about another thematic section of a song that is pretty different from the "A-section," which is what we normally think of as the usual verse-prechorus-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-prechorus-chorus stuff. Since I know you're into Tesseract I could use Of Matter: Proxy as an example; that entire song up until the transition at 3:04 can be thought of as the "A-section" and everything after as the "B-section." Tesseract doesn't decide to use any themes from the A-section later in the song, but if they went back to that "I'm stronger than I was before" section in the end of the song, that would be back to the A-section chorus. Actually, in that same song, they have a prechorus that starts at 1:37 and goes until that same vocal line! It might not seem like it is, but it's so similar in drum pattern and chord progression to the "chorus" that it works in the same way. Tesseract uses a lot of A and B section stuff in their proggiest sounding songs (Concealing Fate Part 2 & 3, Eden, etc.). Anyway-probably too long-winded of a response, but there's some more info than you asked for! Haha! In terms of the music, Polaris is definitely a middle of the road type of band. Great talent, great players, great vocals, great drumming, but it's put together in a way that's just kinda... eh to me. Their first album The Mortal Coil has a little bit more dynamics to it than this one I think-personally they got a little more diluted on this project than their last one in my humble opinion. Some good songs on this project for sure, but they don't do enough to really set themselves apart. Martyr (Waves) is a pretty dang good track I come back to a lot though, likewise with Landmine and All of This is Fleeting.

Anyone told you to listen to While She Sleeps yet? Progressive British metalcore with huge riffs and without the catchy choruses 👌🏼

If you haven’t done any Landmvrks. The deluxe version of their album Lost in the Waves is amazing

"Not massively blown away" for Pray for Rain - did i just watch you listen to the song I heard 😂

Check out The Lotus Chapters by Above, Below! Best album I’ve ever heard with incredible diversity and a great story detailing the process of human life from birth to death.

You gotta dig into Currents now that Polaris made their debut!!

Petition for Drew to react to Tallah - Matriphagy album! I'm so curious what you would think of that one!

That happens to me aswell, my favourite band can release an album and at first i will be like ''meh'' and after another listen i just blast it for a week

Check out currents either the way it ends or the place I feel safest .. two great albums

Next stop must be Erra by Erra, Drew 😉

I gotta add to my other comments cause I'm listening to this while commenting. There's a main vocalists who does screams and cleans. But most of the cleans are done by the bassist. Just FYI 😊

Imma keep pushing Currents until it happens lol One of the best bands in metalcore

Above My Head always reminded me of a We Came As Romans song lol.

Should do a listen through of Nadir by Black Tongue :)

It baffles me how you haven’t reacted to alpha wolfs album a quiet place to die, you will not be disappointed

i rekon you wouild love dusk to day from their last album

42:20 I get your point. But I think that’s probably because you’re new to the genre. There are too many albums and some of them won‘t hit as hard especially if you’re listening to the top tier stuff beforehand. Timing plays also a big role. I‘m waiting every year for new albums and when The Death of Me came out I listened to it a lot BECAUSE it was new. Not soundwise, even though I think Polaris has a lot going for them, but in general a new record. So if you’re going from year to year waiting for new albums to drop you‘re way more open to listen to everything that comes out. But you’re new, you’re basically listening to 20 years of metalcore right now where bands can easily get lost in the masses.

do you plan on doing Meshuggah again soon?

Personally I've always thought their first album the Mortal Coil was a lot better than this one. It doesn't use as many tropes and has more different songs tones than The Death of Me.

u need to check the other album of them The Mortal Coi, full of riff

It sounds like you were in the mood for prog with breakdowns and were trying to force the record into the box you were hoping for. We all have that headspace, but i’d replay it when you’re in a more melodic mood.

Yeeeees man, been waiting for this one since you started including it in polls. From a non-patreon supporter I was rooting for this the whole time. Thanks Drew, can't wait to hear your thoughts on this album. One of my favorite albums of all time. edit: just wanted to add that Landmine was the song that introduced me to Polaris, and at the time I had heard nothing like it. That and Masochist. So I think it has alot to do with personal experience, also when you "compare" sounds from different bands, I get that you latch onto whatever you recognize from your experience through the genre.

Uneven Structure - La Partition pls!!

Vagabond is my favourite

the main thing about Polaris, especially their singer Jamie.. when you think hes at 100% he goes to 110%, then when you think hes done there, he goes to 150%. Exactly what you want in a frontman, he gets you fucking hyped for whats coming next

The second track sounds a lot like Keith from Every Time I Die - vocal-wise.

Sup brother. When we getting the Tallah reaction?

pls, react to Collapse By Design from Sentinels. in my opinion, it reminds a lot of the band Vildhjarta. it's a technically absurd album.

Sure it's nothing crazy but it is viby, heavy even emotional at times. Not everyone wanna break genres left and right every 2 seconds. Some just wanna make good music

you should react or listen to their album ,The Mortal Coil', this one is soo much better by them.

You should give “the Contortionist” albums a try

You gotta check out Phase one x Polaris-Icarus

You gotta check out life awaits new album call me insane

It is the bassist who does the clear noted lines….

why havent you reacted to Death Roll by Wage War yet?