Sydney metalcore giants Polaris have released their highly-anticipated third full-length Fatalism.

The follow-up to their massive second album The Death of Me, Fatalism arrives amidst a wave of fanfare from press outlets across the globe, acting as a base camp for the next ascent on the Aussies' climb to the top of the metalcore pile. 

Released into the world a week out from the commencement of the biggest headline tour of their career Fatalism is a record shaped by the sense of despair and dystopia that engulfed the world over the past few years, and the overwhelming accompanying sensation that we were powerless to change course.

Pre-empted by the singles Overflow, Inhumane and Nightmare, Fatalism emerged during the band's 2022 writing session in the Blue Mountains, with the alt-rock leanings beating at the core of the latest track organically emerging from some of Polaris' own personal listening repertoire.

The most recent of Fatalism's singles, Overflow is indicative of the approach, boasting translucent melodics, smouldering guitars, and emphatic vocals. A layered outing that detonates heavier moments alongside more serene terrain, Overflow expands the band's creative palette with alternative rock contours and deeply raw thematics.

"This is one of the much more personal and vulnerable tracks on the record lyrically, whereas the other two singles took a wider, more outward perspective," shares drummer and lyricist Daniel Furnari. "I feel like the meaning of the song is fairly self-explanatory, and I think a lot of people will naturally interpret it through the lens of their own experiences, but essentially for me it’s about the struggle of fighting off a panic attack and the impact of that struggle on others."

"Overflow was another track that came about from one of our writing retreats, so I guess that system was really paying off at this point!" Furnari shares. "We were pretty deep into the process at this point, I think this was actually the final track to make it onto the record. Jake had been pumping out simple chord sequences in an effort to break away from the busier, riffier stuff we’d been writing, and Ryan came in with this super catchy sliding lead over the top, which became the basis for the chorus and the central motif of the song. Stylistically, where Inhumane explored a sort of nu-metal direction and Nightmare was a straight-up metalcore track in the truest sense, I’d say Overflow is much more of an alt-rock track."

Watch the music video for Overflow below. 

CW: Viewers are advised that the following video contains images of Ryan Siew.

Kicking off in Perth next week, the Fatalism tour features August Burns Red, Kublai Khan TX and Currents. Perth, Adelaide, Newcastle and Brisbane shows are all sold out with limited tickets still left for Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney.  All remaining tickets are available via Destroy All Lines. 

The shows shape up to be a celebration of the rise of Polaris, as well as a continuation of the legacy of guitarist Ryan Siew who passed away in July. 

Following Siew's passing the band posted a heartfelt message to fans on their Facebook establishing they intended to continue the band in his loving memory. The post can be read below. 

Earlier this week, Polaris posted a video of Siew performing the solo for Inhumane live at the Metro Theatre in March. You can watch the footage below. 

Through an ominous music video capturing the track's dystopian themes, Nightmare pays tribute to the recent devastating loss in the Polaris family, as drummer and lyricist Daniel Furnari explains: "We created this video with our friend Ben Wrigley, AKA Third Eye Visuals, who found some amazing locations and imagery to help us convey the track when paired with his brilliant editing skills. This was the second of three music videos we filmed with Ryan earlier this year. It has been a challenging and very emotional task to complete these videos in light of what has happened, but after careful discussion with his family, we collectively felt that we wanted to share with the world the final things that Ryan created with us. We will proudly cherish the memories of him contained in this footage, and hope you will too."

Watch the music video for Nightmare below.

(Warning: Viewers are advised that the following video contains images of Ryan Siew.)

"Nightmare is a reflection on the constant state of fear that the world at large seems to have lived in for much of the past couple of years - the feeling of waking up every day into a dystopia of uncertainty and anxiety where nothing really feels safe anymore," shares Furnari. "The more I thought about it, the more I arrived at the conclusion that maybe this fear was the biggest thing we all had in common during a time of such great division - that our collective dread was our greatest unifier. That concept then really helped to shape the thematic direction of the rest of the record."

"This was the second song that was written for the album," Furnari continues, "and it started with that chorus melody, chords and lyrics, which I brought to the guys to build a song around. We fleshed it out on our first writing trip to the mountains and it developed into a very riff-heavy song, with the guitar being passed back and forth a lot between Rick and Ryan and all of us weighing in, so I think we all had an early attachment to it for that reason."

After their Australian headline tour, Polaris will return to the UK and Europe supporting While She Sleeps, performing at Aftershock 2023 and kicking off a North American headline run in October. 

Fatalism is out now on Resist Records.

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