The 6-piece prog metal outfit has been quiet for awhile, and I know I was stoked to see the announcement of new music. After putting out a short EP back in 2020, Aviations has been promising new music to come, while posting every once in awhile in their Facebook fan club page — The AVsitters Club.
The Retrospect EP didn’t contain any brand new songs, but instead had two re-recorded and imagined songs from their first album – ‘Nineties Nine Ties’ and ‘Outliers’. I do have to say that prior to the release of this EP, I had only listened to a few songs off of A Declaration of Sound, the band’s first release. Retrospect put those two songs on my radar, and they quickly became some of my favorites by the group. Other contents of the EP included Instrumental versions of both of the previously mentioned songs, as well as an acoustic version of their song ‘Two Days,’ off of their previous 2018 album The Light Years.
After almost two and a half years, we finally get the promised return of the fantastic musicians in Aviations. This isn’t the first time that the Boston group has gone quiet either. After their first album was released way back in 2012, they took a long hiatus until their return in 2018. Like all of their work, it’s a beautiful collection of music, albeit a bit rougher around the edges as it was their first release as a group.
The new song is more pop-y and lighter than a lot of their catalogue, but that doesn’t mean that it’s less impressive and technical musically. ‘Safehouse‘ is a great example of what progressive metal can be without harsh vocals and breakdowns. Don’t get me wrong — I love breakdowns as much as the next guy — but I also love when an awesome vocalist, Adam Benjamin, can captivate you with angelic and catchy lines for an entire five minutes.
I haven’t even gotten to the fact that around every line of the song there’s a beautiful, melodic riff being laid down by guitarist Sam Harchik, or a sick groove by drummer James Knoerl. These two talented guys were the original minds behind Aviations, starting the band after they met at Berklee College of Music in 2011. After some lineup changes and the aforementioned hiatus, they became the stunning sextet of sexy musical talent that gave us The Light Years.
In ‘Safehouse,’ the lyrics show the theme of a relationship that isn’t working, and at settling for someone or something just because it’s “safe.” The music video they released alongside the single goes deeper into the themes of the song.
In the video, which was very adeptly put together by the way, Adam is stuck in this 1988 sitcom in (what seems to be) Sam Harchik’s childhood home. For most of the video, Adam seems to be confused about what’s going on around him, as if he’s in a dream. It even ends with him being chased by a gorilla (sort of) and then waking up on stage at an Aviations performance.
If the lyrics and video are intended to be connected, then I would say ‘Safehouse‘ is about wasting your years in a situation that you settled for when there wasn’t anything real there. The sitcom setting they chose for their video was entertaining, but it also could be symbolic of a bad relationship where everyone pretends things are great when they really aren’t, or even where you feel like you need to change who you are to fit into the relationship.
If you haven’t yet, check the video out below and see the Aviations sitcom cast for yourself. Also, support the band by buying their music on Bandcamp!
I don’t own any images shown in this article, all rights reserved to Aviations
