Arriving seven years after their debut album, Ocean Sleeper’s sophomore project has plenty on its plate. Guilt and desperation ring out on multiple tracks, as lead vocalist Karl Spiessl and clean vocalist and guitarist Ionei Heckenberg lock into intense catharsis together. In addition to tackling the Sisyphean toil of daily life on the title track and internal voices of regret on “Forgive,” the Gippsland metalcore quartet also venture beyond battling demons of their own making. Co-written with Jon Lundin from Point North while the two bands were touring America, “Break the Cycle” isn’t about addiction or some other personal feedback loop. Rather, it’s about the band graduating from Australia’s relatively modest music scene to establish themselves in other countries. Similarly, “My Forever Drug”—a writing collab with Lundin and Los Angeles producer Curt Martin—is actually about the consumptive quality of a love that’s as dangerous as it is alluring. Set against the quartet’s sharp contrasts between gorgeous topline melodies and rumbling heaviness below—as well as that vocal layering—these themes hit especially hard. But you don’t need to know what each song is about to go along for the ride.