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Amateur Takes Control express complexity of human condition through ‘A Pale Decrepit Dot’

by The COSMOS February 7, 2025

by The COSMOS February 7, 2025 40 views

Amateur Takes Control release 'A Pale Decrepit Dot'

On A Pale Decrepit Dot, Amateur Takes Control laments the currency of their own human condition in a world so often drowned in violence, chaos, negligence, and suffering.

A Pale Decrepit Dot Album Cover — **A Pale Decrepit Dot**

The quintet converses on the planet they inhabit. A place that, while births every human experience known to history—minuscule or grand—is but a dot, a mere point of pale blue against the backdrop of an ever-expanding universe. A dot, habitually steeped heavy in pain, inflicted between its inhabitants – human, non-human, flora and fauna. A dot in contraction, with instant, inescapable and constant exposure to pain in media. A dot that is simultaneously paradise and torture, resting on a minute tilt in perspective. A dot in dilapidation through the environmental degradation of its lifeblood.

Throughout the 7-track album, the group shifts through personal expressions of grief, confusion, anger and mania as response/rumination to their existence in, with, and against their home and its systems within. Seemingly bleak and futile, the album deliberately weighs in on the band’s struggles interfacing with the complexities of life, death and their journeys in between. Their melding of heavy riffs, cascading melodies and cavernous falls place their sonic consciousness on a knife’s edge between hysteria and lucidity, each moment fleeting yet consequential each following passage.

The solid five members of Amateur Takes Control — The solid five members of **Amateur Takes Control**

Longstanding instrumental quintet, Amateur Takes Control (ATC), has continuously evolved, shifting through different forms while staying true to its core—a declaration of independence and an unrelenting push forward despite uncertainty. What began as a solo project has grown into a dynamic collective, now comprising Adel Rashid, Ahmad Ariff, and Field Teo on guitars, Isa Ong on bass, and Hydhir Ramli on drums.

Known for their emotionally charged compositions and immersive live performances, ATC blends intricate melodies with crushing intensity, creating sonic landscapes that resonate deeply with audiences.Fresh off a three-date run in Indonesia alongside labelmates Caracal, ATC will next take the stage in Bangkok on Saturday, 8 February, performing with JPBS and Faustus (Tickets).

They will return to Singapore to open for US progressive metal band The Fall Of Troy on Sunday, 9 February. Amidst this string of electrifying live shows, ATC is set to release their latest album, A Pale Decrepit Dot, on 7 February 2025—a raw and unflinching reflection on chaos, grief, and resilience.

Through seven intense tracks, the band delves into themes of struggle, uncertainty, and the weight of existence, fusing heavy riffs, cascading melodies, and dynamic shifts, embodying the album’s themes of existential struggle: no action is without consequence, no moment exists in true stasis.