Reliqa

The genre-bending Aussies poised to take on the world with their hook-refined anthems

Since day one, Reliqa has been a band underscored by camaraderie, passion, and evolution. The release of their second album, //Secrets Of The Future//, and their first with major label backing, is both the end of a very long, musically rich journey, and the start of one far longer. The band was unofficially formed in 2016 as four Sydney teenagers joined forces for a school project they “poured way too much into,” according to vocalist Monique Pym.

“I know its cliché,” she says, “but we all fell in love with writing music and the kinship it creates. As we got into our senior years, that energy only grew stronger, our music tastes became more sophisticated and we started to understand ourselves as songwriters.”

Those maturing tastes helped turned what was ostensibly a metalcore band into so much more. Their sound was broadened by personal passions for tech metal, jazz, electronic music, grime and pop to leave pigeon-holers guessing. Even if that was by accident.

“It was only with our [2022] EP //I Don’t Know What I Am// that we really became self-aware of our genre-bending and decided to use it to our advantage,” Pym returns. “Even now with //Secrets…//, it’s an evolution of that idea; it’s us wearing our hearts on our sleeve.”

Reliqa have become a more confident, uncompromising outfit with each release, both spreading their wings wider and grounding themselves deeper into the soil from which they grow. With //Secrets…//, producer Chris Blancato, with whom they struck up a family-like relationship during the //I Don’t Know…// EP, has accelerated their evolution. He pushed the band to write more collaboratively and put the vocals at the heart of every decision.

“I think this is the album where we’ve for the first time written for feel,” Pym extends. “It’s something that we desperately needed to unlock, but we didn’t really know that until we got into the room and felt that magic. We were cooking in real time.

“Hooks are my responsibility, and that’s a role I’ve taken on with gusto. These guys are writing such fantastic and diverse music; I feel like I owe it to them to transform it into a package that can reach more people.”

The result is a record that finds them at their most accessible, with detailed-yet-streamlined anthems like //Terminal// juxtaposed with moments punctuated by dark weirdness and villainous riffs.

“Reliqa aren’t losing their progressive edge,” Pym affirms. “There is quite a tangible change in our sound, but we’ve still woven in that true-to-form techniness as well.”

Having shared stages with Karnivool, Caligula’s Horse, Halestorm and countless other massive bands, it feels like the band has completed Australia. So, eight years after handing in that school assignment they’re now poised to take on the rest of the world.

“It’s on the cards,” Pym warns with an excited smile, but adds that “we’re a band that has always played the long game to make sure we do things right. When it happens, we’ll be there with bells on.” POW

PROG FILE

LINE-UP: Monique Pym (vocals), Brandon Hutcheson (guitars), Miles Knox (bass), Benjamin Knox (drums)

SOUNDS LIKE: The secret lovechild of dark, modern metalcore and irresistible pop accessorised with evil hip hop and bubbling electronics

CURRENT RELEASE: //Secrets of the Future// releases 31^st May via Nuclear Blast

WEBSITE: https://reliqa.bfan.link/SOTF

–– Phil Weller