U.K. hardcore veterans Polar went through a near total, top-to-bottom rebuild as they put together their forthcoming Five Arrows full-length. Both that internal restructuring and the boundary-pushing sonics of the LP are now being hinted at within the record’s latest single, “A New Mentality” — which Revolver is premiering right here right now.
The song is the fifth preview thus far from Five Arrows, and like earlier teases including “We Won’t Sleep,” it feels informed by barracks-shaking hardcore rhythms, vintage rap-rock vocal pacing, and the melodically soaring choruses of contemporary metal. Working through lyrical themes of “showing resilience, accepting change and embracing growth,” vocalist Adam Woodford navigates those varying planes with both a hearty scream and a scratchy croon.
“‘A New Mentality’ is about rebuilding Polar with the ambition of bringing Polar back to its glory days and realizing that with the new members and a new found energy this can be fully archived with approaching the new era with a new mentality,” he said in a statement, alluding to how a major lineup change in 2023 united him with current members Bruno Consani (guitar), Simon Richardson (guitar), Stefan Whiting (bass) and Max Flohr (drums).
Woodford added: “This new mentality that has been created by us all, really struck a nerve with the new era of Polar so much so we wanted to use it as a subject matter of a song. The song is about showing resilience, accepting change and embracing growth. We have archived all of those by changing the bands mindset, energy with a new mentality.”
You can peep the song in the new music video up above, which mysteriously swerves between chill-looking jam sessions in someone’s living room and a bloodied-but-unbowed Woodford screaming into the camera while wandering his neighborhood at night.
Five Arrows is due out November 22nd via Arising Empire