All That I Am: Patient Sixty-Seven's "Wishful Thinking"

July 24, 2022

The metalcore Twitterverse has been a-flutter with Patient Sixty-Seven’s debut album hype for the last six months. I’m a pessimist; I confess. I have always held my doubts close to my chest whenever a debut is announced. Patient Sixty-Seven is the only group to have forced my hand, and I’m glad they did. I felt like a poker player looking at a royal flush after I finally got to listen to “Wishful Thinking.” The hand I’d hoped for lay on the table before me, and it won a pot I’d remember for years.

Patient Sixty-Seven are an outfit doing metalcore in the vein of their Aussie brethren The Amity Affliction, Parkway Drive, and Polaris. The do-it-yourself band have handled as much as possible between the three of them — Tom Kiely (primary vocals), Declan Le Tessier (guitars), and Rory Venville (vocals, guitars) — including even packing and shipping merch orders. It certainly doesn’t hurt that they are also the progenitors of their own memes - for example, this metal t-shirt of Patient Tiffany-Seven. The DIY approach is paying off: Patient Sixty-Seven are one of the best rising heavy music groups.

“Wishful Thinking” is sonically similar to The Amity Affliction’s iconic album “Chasing Ghosts.” Both albums deal with heavy emotions, are melodic and crushing in different moments, and are among my favorite metalcore records of all time. “Stay Paranoid II,” the opener to “Wishful Thinking,” bars no holds: two lines in and Tom Kiely is already nailing the bleghs. Over Polaris-style guitars and pounding, dynamic drumbeats, Venville and Kiely swap memorable melodies and growling roars. Venville’s soaring vocals are featured in “Scattered” (a personal favorite); Kiely’s own desperate cleans star in “Colours.” The album features guest spots from Currents’ Brian Wille, Loveless, and the inimitable Kellin Quinn of Sleeping with Sirens. While features are always a delight, none of the guest stars were necessary; Patient Sixty-Seven could have easily carried the album by themselves. Kiely is a monster dirty vocalist, and Le Tessier and Venville are expert guitarists by providing a backdrop of riffs or floating ambience as the case requires. Venville’s cleans provide a rare second vocal texture and are a wonderful foil to Kiely’s own vocals. Patient Sixty-Seven are a force to be reckoned with.

Highlights:

• “Stay Paranoid II:” You want bleghs? Tom Kiely delivers.

• “Scattered:” This chorus will be stuck in my head for years. If emotional metalcore is your thing, this song is right up your alley.

• “Fault Line:” P67 sew their DIY heart to their sleeve: “Without this dream / I’ll forever be lost in obscurity / This dream is everything to me.”

• “Damage Plan:” Okay, sorry - one more thing about Kiely’s vocals: any vocalist who delivers a line about hanging by a thread and sounds like they are will always be a vocalist I emulate.

It’s Christmas in July for me, here in the crushing Florida humidity, thanks to Patient Sixty-Seven’s incredible debut. I am glad I boarded that hype train. Although the band’s Twitter accounts have taught me that being a DIY metalcore band is no gravy train, with a hype train, it can be both rewarding and fun — and Patient Sixty-Seven can claim one of the best debut albums of 2022 to boot. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to spin “Wishful Thinking” again to escape the crushing humidity with some crushing music.