Album Review: Wheel – Resident Human
Reviewed by Paul Hutchings
Have you ever discovered a band early in their career, seen them slowly mushroom and then experience feelings of utter resentment that because their music is so good, you will inevitably end up sharing them with more and more people?
Let me reluctantly reveal the object of my jealous possession. March 2019 and Anglo-Finnish progressive outfit Wheel released their debut album ‘Moving Backwards’. It was a mesmerising record and rarely left the playlist for the rest of the year. Festival performances at Bloodstock Open Air and Damnation proved the band could cut it live, and a brief headline tour of the UK just prior to the lockdown saw a full set at The Exchange in Bristol. It was a rare night of joy in a year of shit.
‘Moving Backwards’ held the magnifying glass to censorship and institutionalised mind control. Ironically, issues that have become increasingly disturbing in the last 12 months or so. ‘Resident Human’ now considered and reflects on the past year and the fragility of the world – the increasingly worrying hate speech that contrasts with the planet’s great beauty. Humans overbearing reliance on technology and machines. Wheel also draw deeply on the sci-fi novel series ‘Hyperion Cantos’ by Dan Simmons, which directly inspired songs including ‘Hyperion’ and ‘Dissipating’.
Although the band have experienced a couple of line-up changes since ‘Moving Backwards’, the unit remain tightly locked. Entering 2020 as a three-piece with vocalist and guitarist James Lascelles, bassist Aki Virta, and drummer Santeri Saksala - after guitarist JC departed amicably in Spring (with Jussi Turunen later joining the ranks) the band have paused, regrouped, and developed. The result is breath taking.
Few bands have the confidence or the audacity to open an album with a 12-minute song but that’s what Wheel do. ‘Dissipating’, for that is the track, begins gently and slowly with a simple, single repeated guitar riff that is soon joined by drums, percussion, and bass. It’s a gentle start but you never know how long Wheel will contain themselves before letting loose. Ironically on ‘Dissipating’, the progressive, smouldering atmosphere and brooding build is one of Wheel’s strengths. Having kept the more aggressive elements in check for the first six minutes, you sense that things are going to slowly explode. The tempo increases before pulling back, the calm before the storm that erupts from the 8:30 mark as Wheel up the tempo with a pulsating climax that is both old school Wheel but also a fresh, contemporaneous approach. The result is intoxicating.
Unafraid of social commentary, ‘Movement’ follows. Short and to the point, it’s a gripping contrast to the longer opening song, it captures the polarised rhetoric that surrounded the Black Lives Matter protests last year, with some choppy guitarwork and thunderous drumming supporting Lascelles thought provoking lyrics.
One of Wheel’s many strengths is their explosive song writing. ‘Ascend’ highlights the band’s ability to maintain high level tempo. ‘Ascend’ tackles the way that content is harvested in what they call a ‘cut/past culture’. Driven by a pulsing bass line, the guitars are given free range to soar and dive, the cutting, jagged riffing reminding you that underneath the progressive veneer lurks a band who like to kick out the jams occasionally.
Having provided two sub-five-minute tracks, ‘Hyperion’ provides a sonic soundscape with a difference. It’s here that you realise the essential nature of the band’s rhythm section, with Virta and Saksala providing the rock-solid platform for an expansive, emotive track that follows the pattern of ‘Dissipating’ in its theatre and expansive progression. Clever and intricate, the soundscape which Wheel create changes from simple riffing to complex passages. All the while, Lascelles’ distinctive vocals provide the narrative.
There’s a pleasing balance on ‘Resident Human’ with the rougher edges maintained but not impacting on the overall production. ‘Fugue’ provides a further short, sharp focus, the pulsing energy that throbs through it not overpowering the guitar riff or the crispness of message. This track wouldn’t be out of place on a Steven Wilson album. The darkness of the title track, the third ten-minute plus song on the record is possibly the best on this captivating record. Sure, the Tool influences once more seep through but Wheel are slowly moving away from that link and by album number 3 I would expect references to be even fewer. ‘Resident Human’ opens with a grumbling bass line and sharp, angular guitars, underpinned by some avante garde-esque drumming. The song slowly builds, the tension increasing as the tempo increases, all the while Virta’s bass propelling forward. The track progresses incrementally, but by the halfway mark it is soaring, emotionally drenched, and harrowing yet uplifting in equal parts. It’s dramatic, and magnificent.
This all leads to the gentle piano of ‘Old Earth’ which plays out this album. As an instrumental track it finishes ‘Resident Human’ perfectly, the sobering tones bringing a sombre feel to the album’s conclusion. Wheel are one of hundreds of bands whose writing has been influenced by events of the past 13 months. The reflection on being human, through the exaggerated lens of 2020’s tumult, the changes and differences in life is captured and portrayed in all its ugly rawness.
