Our reigning kings of progressive metalcore, Polaris, have surprised us today with a trip to triple j’s Like A Version. The legendary cover series saw the Aussie outfit cover 2000’s Eskimo Joe anthem ‘Black Fingernails, Red Wine’, with a little help from none other than instrumental savant Plini.
Teased by the band with the clue that the cover would be along the lines of “Emos with a cheese platter”, Polaris launched us back to the year 2006 with a breakdown to boot. Alongside the cover, the act also performed ‘Vagabond’, a cut off their most recent record, The Death of Me.
Hitting physical and digital shelves last February, we served The Death of Me some pretty high praise. “Had there been any previous doubt that Polaris didn’t deserve the mantle of one of Australia’s most impressive musical exports”, Blunt commented at the time, “The Death Of Me dealt with it swiftly, solidifying the band’s position at the pinnacle of the heavy hierarchy not just here…damn well everywhere.” The band sat down with us to talk us through a track-by-track of the record, which you can hit up here.
Of course, their stint at triple j’s Like A Version wouldn’t have been possible without Plini, after Polaris guitarist Ryan Siew was struck out for the session. “Huge thanks to our good friend Plini who came to the rescue when Ryan sadly came down with the flu a couple of days before this session and was unable to perform with us”, the band explained. “Plini smashed it out of the park at incredibly short notice and we’re so grateful to him for helping out.” In his own right, Plini is gearing up to release his sophomore outing, Impulse Voices, on November 27.
Check out the Polaris interpretation of ‘Black Fingernails, Red Wine’ below.
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