A new young artist has splashed across the pond from Birmingham UK with her debut full-length album, Tales from a Melancholic, released February 16, 2015, and her name is Pryti. Describing her music and album as anthemic riffs, dark, grungy, with musical influences from Deftones, Sarah Mclachlan, Bury Tomorrow, Killswitch Engage, Devil Sold His Soul, Lacuna Coil, Glassjaw, Paramore, Die So Fluid, Ani DiFranco, and Saosin, Pryti wrote, sang, as well as played the guitars and bass. Tales of a Melancholic has been released digitally on her label Welcome to Pariahville with production by Justin Hill from Sikth (Yashin, Heart of a Coward).
Tales Of A Melancholic is definitely athemic from start to finish with track names such as “Insomnia,” “The Pessimist,” “Bitter,” and “Angst.” Others such as “Abyss,” “Purge,” “Amnesia,” “Battle Wounds,” “Ghost,” and “Burden” let the mind roam wild. The first track, “Insomnia,” has a Halestorm-esque intro as the haunting, dream-like riff slides in from the silence into layered guitars accompanied by calculated pounding drums like a sleep-deprived headache followed by Pryti’s haunted vocals of the frustration of wakefulness; “I’m still stuck on pause/In this time/Trapped in perfect memories/I can’t deny/Anger turns into clenched teeth/And I can’t ignore it.” “The Pessimist” has a hard, dark bluesy guitar strum that follows the track throughout until a little after midway when Pryti opens up with her vocals and hard, yet, melodic guitar play. “The Pessimist” tells the story of a person who has been beat up too much to think anything else; “I hold my breath I count to 10/But this feeling is deepening/And with every lesson learned/I’m the one that gets burned.” “Abyss” is a hard-hitting roller coaster musically as the guitars rise from the back seat to meet Pryti’s pleading vocals; “I keep running, I take cover, but I fall in this abyss with you.” “Purge,“ with a Chevelle-esque intro akin to “The Red,“ has a straight-ahead thrusting Grunge vibe as drums and guitars beat in tandem with Pryti’s vocals, soaring and dropping, weaving a yarn of resignation as she sings; “Turn the page/So this all just goes away/Turn the page/I don’t wanna feel this pain.”
Moving along, “Bitter Pill,” is a cigarette lighter raising track, has shades of Deftones “Change“ peppered throughout the guitar work as Pryti’s voice drips with sorrow, offering a story of being duped into a loveless relationship; “Here is how I felt/It’s all in this bitter pill/Can you remind me once again/How you put me under this spell.” “Amnesia“ is a song of wanting to forget set to a gentle grungy power ballad vibe as Pryti pleads; “Just tell me how I can turn this off, so I don’t replay this again… Cause my memory’s playing its tricks on me.. and these vultures, they circle above my head.” “Angst,” with its muffled intro turned to a fist-pumping, head-banging beat and no nonsense guitar riff, tells the story of every teen or outsider, and will be related to in Pryti’s vocals; “They bury me, like a battle’s been chosen, and I can’t win.” The next track, “Battle Wounds,” a simple one-two guitar strum intro belies the complicated topic of wounds from a broken relationship; “Why did you disappear? The silence is deafening now… There’s nothing left to say now, you threw it away.” “Ghost“ is a lights down low ballad akin to The Bangles “Following“ or Sarah MacLachlan’s “Possession“ thematically, before picking up a smidge, that tells of memories haunting; “I can I almost hear you say/ tonight…We’re always walking in the shadows.” The final track, “Burden,” has a musical feel like Paramore’s “Decode“ in urgency accompanied with Pryti’s story of living in an abusive relationship, “How can I leave with all this? With every word you said…I can’t.”
Tales Of A Melancholic is a hard-rocking, vocally tear-inducing (akin to Mazzy Star) look into Pryti’s psyche and heart that shows Rock flows through her veins. Her debut album, vulnerable and mature as it is, gives Pryti good bones to continue a trajectory that is conceivably endless. The album has received excellent reviews from the likes of Sam Carter of Architects and countless other media platforms. CrypticRock concurs, giving Tales Of A Melancholic 5 of 5 stars.
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