Sydney metalcore band Polaris’ third album was finished a few months before lead guitarist Ryan Siew passed away on 19 June 2023 at just 26 years old. Little more than two months since his passing, it’s challenging to extrapolate that context while listening through the sound, feel and themes on Fatalism. In 2023, there’s been a growing number of major Australian heavy releases that immerse themselves in a desperate concern for the state of the world—a world that is, with unbelievable sadness, ultimately contributing to growing concerns for mental health. Fatalism joins Trophy Eyes’ Suicide and Sunshine and The Amity Affliction’s Not Without My Ghosts in this year’s pantheon of local artists pointedly refusing to imitate life—and violently illustrating why by reflecting it instead. While lead single “Inhumane” set the tone early with its outraged disillusionment (beautifully enshrining a deeply expressive solo from Siew), when opener “Harbinger” decides that “We all have to suffer to see we were born to bleed,” Fatalism’s course was always as assured as its title. The word itself denotes a belief that all events are predetermined. In this context, it quickly becomes clear why every track is sonically and thematically heavier than 2020’s The Death of Me ever needed to be. There is an urgency to the helpless outreach of “With Regards” when vocalist Jamie Hails worries that, “I pray this letter finds you well and safe/I hope to God I wrote it not too late.” Third single “Overflow” goes on to ask amid its blend of simmering and singable, “Where do I shelter when it’s raining inside?/No peace and quiet from the noise in my mind” before concluding, “I can’t stand to see you like this/’Cause it’s more than I can take.” The fear of imminent tragedy underpins standout “Aftertouch”, which sees Polaris are at their most emotionally overcome. The refrain “I’ve tried to give you every reason not to stay” feels particularly haunting in retrospect.