Christ, there have been some absolutely stellar Australian album releases this year that have captured the full spectrum of emotion, threaded catchy-as-fuck guitar riffs and percussion throughout, and presented it in a rocking format to hungry music fans. Like Horror My Friend, Slowly Slowly and Pretty City before them this year, Ceres have produced a 2016 album that has done the above and stretched out some more in flexing an emo/indie-rock muscle that will undoubtedly capture the attention and hearts of more new fans as a result.
Drag It Down On You, in its 14 track entirety, shows a band exploring melody and a maturing sense of songwriting, coming into their own brilliantly. This is music to listen to when you might be feeling a bit down, but you want to rage against it all. This is also music to listen to if you want to get amped up by impassioned lyricism. I could write about how much I love this album, but I’m not going to – in short, Drag It Down On You is one of the best Australian albums of this year. Hands down.
The lyricism is unashamedly candid; “If I can’t speak, then it’s your fault and I miss you more than I can stand…” Tom Lanyon sings as “Choke” winds down. This track in particular has a gorgeous build up to it and the frustration behind the lyrics come through in a unforced way. Relationships can be a bitch at the best of times and “Choke”, along with many songs on Drag It Down On You, takes a look at the good and the bad elements of ’em.
“Happy In Your Head” is a shining piece of Ceres’ body of work, while “91, Your House” is possibly my favourite album track even now, after maybe 12 full listens of the album. There’s no bullshit when it comes to Ceres’ delivery of music and it’s an approach I love; the honesty in the chaos of the album’s larger, full-bodied tracks don’t drown out the shorter pieces. “Okay”, “Loner Blood” and “Us” tie the record together even though they’re all shorter than two minutes in length. Everything has it’s role.
With Drag It Down On You, the pieces of the Ceres puzzle have fallen in to place perfectly. They balance shades of darkness and self-deprecation with anthemic melodies that show they’re a band unafraid of owning their continuously flourishing confidence as a band.
Review Score: 8.7 out of 10. 
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Drag It Down On You is out now.
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