Album Review: The Spaces In Between by Arterials

One of my favourite discoveries of 2019 were Hamburg punk rockers Arterials. After catching them twice at Booze Cruise Festival, I knew that I wanted to feature them a lot on CPRW. The combination of raspy vocals, urgent melodies and powerful messages really resonated with me and I want everyone in the world to know about them. In February, the band announced they would be releasing a brand new album on Gunner Records titled The Spaces In Between on April 24th. The band’s previous album, Constructive Summer, was absolutely brilliant and I was super excited to get an early listen to The Spaces In Between.

The album’s opening track Friendship Is A Four-Letter Word was also one of two singles the band put out in the build up to The Spaces In Between's release. This is a great introduction to Arterials for first time listeners. Firstly, it's a super positive song about being there for your friends whenever they need you. Flo's raspy vocals give the song plenty of urgency and the track is stuffed with big hooks and moments that will get your fists high in the air as you sing along. This track sets the bar high for the rest of the album. Faith In Yourself begins with a fantastic building guitar part that lets you know big things are coming. Rather than really exploding into life we get a slower, more measured approach to the song. There are high moments, such as the chorus and the song’s big finale, but for the most part the song focuses on getting its message across. That message is that you don't need to have faith in any kind of religion, all you really need is to have faith in yourself. The third track, Savage Season, sees an angrier side of Arterials. This is a no thrills punk rock song about bad politicians who are only in it for the ego boost and power trip rather than actually wanting to help people. Something we in the UK can really relate to.

Storm The Fortress is another political track. The band tone down the anger and present a more thoughtful songwriting style. It's about the political and media desire to fear monger and make people feel like they need to create borders and put up walls. The song is full of great lyrics. Two of my favourites are "we stack and stack and stack, tuning out the cries for help" and "it’s easier to build a wall, than to open up your arms." Some really powerful and emotive stuff. Bitter Fruit For Broken Homes is about how things may look great from the outside but things aren't always as good as they seem. It's one of the album’s slower and more emotional tracks but still packs that punch that I've come to expect from Arterials. The gang vocals on the chorus make it seriously emphatic and impossible to ignore. The sixth song is the album's title track, The Spaces In Between. It was also another single the band released in preparation of the album's release. I can see this song becoming a big highlight of an Arterials live set and perhaps even being their big closer. It's about not being afraid to stray from the path and finding something that means something to you. The track starts in an explosive fashion as the band storm through the opening two verses, giving the song an urgent and passionate feel. Then things are slowed down and the band sing the big positive hook. I hope to one day be in a sweaty punk club singing along to this as loudly as I can. It'll be a goosebump moment for sure.

Jaded & Hated kicks off the second half of The Spaces In Between with a bang. This stripped back hardcore song is about getting older and still playing in punk rock bands despite the negative attitude people may have towards it. As long as people are still enjoying it, Arterials will keep going. They don't care what the naysayers think. Pump The Brakes looks at the older generation’s ignorance towards climate change and caring more about lining their pockets than helping to save the planet. I can't think of many bands that have approached this topic so it feels very refreshing to hear a band tackle it and do it so well. You might think that this would play out as one of the angrier songs on the album but it's actually pretty melodic and full of hooks. This is great as it makes it more accessible and might help to inspire everyone who listens to try and do more to help with this huge problem. Corpse Motel (despite its title) sees Arterials return to a more positive frame of mind. It's about realising that no matter how bad things seem to be on tour, you're doing something you love with your friends and you should celebrate that. Being in a DIY punk band is not a glamorous thing, yet thousands of people do it because they love it. I love the lyrics in the chorus – "colour in the grey, with dabs of sky". A cooler person than me would say "super posi vibes."

The tenth track, Shades Of Brown And Blue, starts out in a ferocious manner. Of all the tracks on The Spaces In Between, Shades Of Brown And Blue is certainly the most circle pit inciting song. Arterials sound seriously pissed off on this track and rightfully so. It's about hating someone because they're different to you and how racism shouldn't ever be used for a political agenda. This is something we hopefully all feel very strongly about. The final line of the track is so powerful, Flo hoarsely screams "we won't bow down to hate!" The penultimate track on the album is titled Break Your Bones. This song has a very impactful beginning with its short sentence structure. During the track, Arterials show that they are allies to the folks who are marginalised because they look or act differently to what is expected of them. The band continue to shout out powerful and meaningful lyrics, this time with "each body's beautiful, let hearts shine bright, your life is meaningful, fuck all that divides". The final track on the album is On Greener Hills. A song which we are lucky enough to feature on our new compilation in aid of Music Venue Trust (also out April 24th). It's about learning from your past mistakes and growing as a person because of them. I've always thought that self discovery and pushing yourself to become a better person is a big part of what modern day DIY punk is all about so I was very glad to hear Arterials pick this subject to write about. It allows The Spaces In Between to finish on an positive and inspiring note.

On my first listen through of The Spaces In Between, I knew this was a very special album. Not only is each song an absolute punk gem where you will be able to sing and dance to your heart's content, it's also full of powerful meaning that if you want to dig down into the lyrics will move you. This is that heart on your sleeve punk rock that really matters in this day and age. There are loads of great bands in Germany at the moment but I'm not sure any are currently more important that Arterials.

Pre-order The Spaces In Between on Bandcamp here.

Like Arterials on Facebook here.

This review was written by Colin Clark.