Melbourne Desert Rockers FOOT Return with ‘The Balance of Nature Shifted’

You all know by now that I’m an unrepentant acolyte of Alice in Chains. It’s not just the grungy mood or Jerry’s searing solos that gets to me; it’s those damned vocal harmonies. More often than not a band is killed by their vocals, so it’s not surprising that very few acts try experimenting with harmony. It’s a magical thing when it does happen, but only when it’s married to a special kind of vibe.

Four-piece Australian rockers FOOT have been sharpening this tool in their shed to perfection over a number of albums now, beginning with the eponymous debut in 2016 and their beloved Buffalo in 2018. Pair appealing harmonics with savvy desert rock riffs and compelling rhythms and we’re absolutely in business on their forthcoming third full-length, ‘The Balance of Nature Shifted’ (2020). It may well be the perfect record to wake up to, as I have these past few weeks. It’s just got that fresh, early morning feel to it, though it works equally well at sunset as it does sunrise.

Lately, it hasn’t been easy for me to listen to a lot of new music. I’ve found myself opting for “skip” on most tracks in the hundreds of promos that flood my inbox each month, but not so with Foot. The key is balance, if I may borrow that word from the album’s title for a moment. I think of the ebb and flow of the ocean, the movement of wind and wave – something that Melbourne bands seem to get as well as California outfits. That instinctive build toward crescendo and retreat back into shade gives the songs on The Balance of Nature Shifted a free-flowing, organic feel.

“Despair on Hope Street” opens the album with a blast of fuzzy bombast, bleeding into a slow, headbanging beat that conjures all the heft of Torche. The appealing warmth of the singing immediately washes over me like a sun-kissed break from a cloudy day. “E-Sports” ups the tempo next with some nice Outback-style picking and one of the most engaging and memorable choruses of the entire spin.

From here, Foot gears down to a doom’s pace for “Green Embers,” a track that makes an excellent bedfellow with the likes of Chrome Ghost and Under (two bands that have also experimented successfully with vocal consonance). “Ride It Out” is one of the most ariose numbers of the LP. I know, a novel concept that a band should produce songs you’d actually want to sing along nowadays, but Foot have done it! Perhaps I’ve picked my favorite too soon, because the song I find myself belting out the most as I go about my daily chores is “Investment” with its supplicating chorus, “Are you gonna risk it all?”

“Break the Altar (Light Shade)” enters Atomic Bitchwax territory with its rapid fire chugging, enjoined by some of the most mellifluous crooning on the record, which conjures vintage Oasis (and that ain’t a bad thing). The tempo quickens with frenetic guitar strumming and a sense of mission as we meet “Neighbors,” which functions as a kind of interlude to transition us between chapters as we near the album’s end.

I couldn’t help thinking of Beck when the penultimate track “Manic Progression” opened. Don’t hate me, I’m a '90s kid, as I suspect the fellows of Foot are, too. The mood it sets is anything but manic to begin with, more mellow and serene, but a Kyuss-esque undertow soon wraps around our ankles and pulls us out into the churning depth. “High” concludes this well-earned sonic trip, giving us time again to contemplate the record’s overall theme – so aptly expressed by Jo Riou’s cover art, which shows a tsunami of nature engulfing the artifice of concrete, carbon, and steel that mankind has forced upon our planet.

And now, Doomed & Stoned is pleased to bring you a first listen to Foot’s The Balance of Nature Shifted in its entirety. Kudos to songwriter Paul Holden and his bandmates Shaun Stolk, James McGuffie, and Pete Wallder on bringing us another stellar listening adventure in the ongoing saga of Foot! Vinyl pre-sales just went up today via Copper Feast Records (order here), so if you dig this groove you might wanna hop on that stat!

Give ear…

Some Buzz

The world is a complicated and troubling place, now more so than it has been for a while. Things are shifting around us and we have new challenges to overcome that we’ve never experienced before both personally and as a society. These feelings of change have been captured by frontman Paul Holden and the rest of Foot in 'The Balance of Nature Shifted’ (2020).

“This album could be a reaction to an overall personal feeling that things around me are shifting at an alarming rate,” Holden says. “Whether it be human interactions with environment, technology and each other. Things are changing, for me personally and externally. 'The Balance of Nature Shifted’ could also be a snippet of how frustrating it can be seeing suffering and angst from which the cause seems so easily avoidable.”

Paul adds, “This album isn’t meant to preach anything other than that is incredibly important to acknowledge your emotions, feel them and react to them in a healthy way. For me this manifests itself in the music and lyrics contained within. This album may be a lot of things, but it is most likely just a hard rock album I wrote and recorded because I find that to be the most enjoyable pastime in the world.”

Foot take their well-honed desert rock sound one step further on 'The Balance of Nature Shifted’, with songs going harder than they ever have before on a Foot record. Fans that were on board for their self-titled debut and follow-up 'Buffalo’ are sure to be satisfied while newer audiences will love this classic blend of Queens of the Stone Age meets Alice in Chains.

'The Balance of Nature Shifted’ is the follow-up to Foot’s acclaimed second album 'Buffalo’ (2018) and is due for full release via Copper Feast Records, both in digital format on May 1st and on pressed as a limited edition double vinyl featuring a whole side of vinyl-exclusive content, limited to 250 copies on coloured vinyl (pre-order here).