Album Review: Patience Way by Arrays

Patience Way is the third album from Auckland based musician Arrays. The solo project was created by JP Carroll who is also a producer alongside releasing his own music. His skills in production have landed him impressive accolades such as placements in the New Zealand top 40 rock charts and being awarded ‘one to watch’ by the official New Zealand music charts.

His third album is set to take him to new heights with lead singles already amassing impressive streaming numbers. Each album takes Arrays from strength to strength and Patience Way may be his best to date.

Patience Way opens with the anthemic track Pictures. Crunchy guitars open the album with a sound like rolling thunder. The sound on Pictures is absolutely huge, an impressive feat for a solo project and an excellent way to open an album.

There’s something very early 2000s metalcore about this track that I love. Although it very much holds a banner of modernity there is an undertone of nostalgia in the catchy melody and ringing guitars.

Next up is the industrial sounding Signs of Life. The track opens with a hammering beat accompanied by a drilling guitar that creates a tone that is bright and clear, but also like a construction site. Obviously, this is a super cool sound and it brings real interest to the track.

Arrays boasts a vocal with a calling quality that brings the listener in. You feel a pull to take in every single word that is being projected with the idea of doing whatever they command of you.

Menacing guitars bring in the rear end of the track with a burst of life that is pure electric.

Keeping up the energy of the album is Obsidian Oceans. The opening melody and tone are reminiscent of early Jimmy Eat World, a major win in my books as they are one of my favourite bands.

The crashing cymbals offer a moment of brightness in a track doused in angst and a darker undertone of anger.

Bringing in a gentler vibe is Glass traps. Opening with just a guitar and vocal the track showcases the lilting side of Arrays’ vocals and allows him to show his range.

Not much instrumentation to the opening of this track, instead of the rolling drums and guitars you are instead treated to a synthesised melody. Glass Traps then changes pace and brings back the interesting instrumentation you have become accustomed to on Patience Way.

The energy is picked up again with the electric track Here You Are. Rocky guitars are joined with a thumping bassline to create the huge sound you first heard in the opening track Pictures.

Here You Are brings its listener a feel-good message of believing that you are good enough. The guitar melody playing underneath the track’s anthemic chorus solidifies the positive meaning and fills the listener with a sense of purpose.

Black Sheep brings Patience Way to an end with a crash and bang, quite literally. The track opens with a massive hit on the cymbals and Arrays’ vocal hits you square in the face.

There’s a real apprehensive feeling to the verses of Black Sheep. You can feel the build-up to the huge chorus.No seconds are wasted on this epic conclusion right until the very end your ears are given a constant thrashing of intense instrumentation that fuels a feeling of passion that is purely uncontainable.

The consistent energy that Patience Way puts out is astounding. As a whole, the album flows so naturally that you’ll be wanting to listen to it on repeat for hours on end. Arrays has created a body of work to be proud of, every track has its own story that plays into the overall picture of Patience Ways.

Check out Patience Way on Spotify and follow Arrays on all platforms