By Stewart

Polite applause everyone… thank you.  Please welcome Melbourne hard rock quintet LUNG.  Formed in mid 2012, the band have got their shit together impressively quickly and wasted no time in releasing their debut EP Parasympathy.

Loosely falling into the category of heavy prog, the band draw on a wide range of influences, but permeating their sound most prominently is the alt-metal genius of Tool.
Instrumentally, the twin guitar attack of Brett Burnell and Wayne Falzon is impressive.  A combination of crunching heaviness and tasteful melodic lines, their interplay throughout proceedings is most engaging.
Often the bassist gets the short shrift, but Jarrod Kelly proves himself to be no slouch in the lower register, providing valuable counterpoint to the guitar lines and the occasional melodic flourish.  Combined with the percussive work of drummer Jeremy Buswell, they form a tight and potent rhythm section which is at it’s best during the  polyrhythmic complexity of “No Restraint”.

Vocalist Liam Burke delivers some clean and clear melodic lines… he can sing for sure, but I found his delivery a little forced and a little too derivative of Maynard James Keenan… until he screams that is.  This dude has a hell of a guttural roar on him, particularly in the final strains of “Lonely Road” during which he shrieks “DIE, FUCKING DIE!” with true conviction and I could have done with more of this approach elsewhere on the EP.

Of the five tracks on offer, the final two are the strongest, being the aforementioned “Lonely Road” and “The Forewarned” which begins with a disquieting guitar and tom-tom figure reminiscent of Duane Denison’s work in Tomahawk and ends with Burke providing the screaming crescendo.

There’s no doubt this band has the chops to match it with the current crop of internationally recognized prog bands, but they could do with working some different tempos into their songwriting as ‘Parasympthy’ for all its strengths comes across as… not tedious, but a bit one-paced.  Audiences will appreciate the stomp-along parts a lot more if they’re interspersed among differing cadences.  The other beef I have is that the Tool influence is just a little too obvious.  There are a LOT of bands with a similar sound at the moment, and these guys ought to experiment with some less conventional sonic approaches and tempo choices.

Those minor complaints aside, their polished and accomplished sound belies their very brief existence. They have obvious songwriting talent & instrumental ability and with a few tweaks, LUNG are surely ready to take the next step in their careers.

Have a look, a listen and a buy here http://www.lungband.com/