Primordial Alien - Casus Belli (Album Review)
An album where punk rock becomes a foundation for tension, melody, and reinvention.
Primordial Alienâs Casus Belli opens with a title that suggests conflict, and the record follows through without reducing itself to a single sound. Across 12 tracks, the band works from a punk rock, alternative, and emo base while continually shifting its framing. It moves between full-force guitars, piano-led reflection, riff-heavy attacks, and a closing salute to rock and roll.
The instrumental opener, âCasus Belli,â sets the atmosphere with the weight of a war march, adorned with beautiful strings and marching drum patterns. It is brief but purposeful, building anticipation before âDancing in the Falloutâ comes in. That second track puts the bandâs priorities into focus. Its vocals are raw and direct, its guitars pushed to the front, and its drums designed for impact. It is an assertive start that gives the album a strong sense of scale.
âLive Infinitelyâ keeps that momentum intact while leaning into a more familiar punk rock vocabulary. There are hints of Green Day in its urgency, while the gravel in the vocal delivery and the bond between voice and guitar recall the tougher edge of Social Distortion. Still, Primordial Alien avoids sounding like a nostalgia exercise. The songâs energy comes from the conviction of its performance and its forward-driving arrangement.
That directness gives âSynthetic Smilesâ room to surprise. As a piano-driven ballad, it lowers the temperature without stepping outside the albumâs emotional world. Its quieter passages bring more vulnerability into view, but the song does not abandon the recordâs guitar-driven core, especially when it goes into its "full band" mode later down the line in the arrangement.
The album returns to heavier ground with âIâd Rather Die For You Than Live Without You,â which begins in a mellow register before erupting into one of Casus Belliâs most powerful punk rock moments. âBlack Rosesâ balances classic punk traits with broader alternative textures, with the large, emphatic drum sound giving the track much of its character. âYouâre Not a Nobody Anymoreâ widens the palette without losing its centre of gravity, showing how closely Primordial Alien can link variation to cohesion.
A rendition of âMoonlight Sonataâ works as an unexpected interlude. Rather than feeling disconnected, it reinforces the albumâs interest in contrast and prepares the ground for âAileen.â The ninth track pairs strong vocal melodies with elegant chord movement, creating a distinct atmosphere while remaining recognisably part of the record. It is a clear example of Primordial Alien making breadth feel like an extension of its songwriting rather than a detour.
âLong Gone and Out of Serviceâ contains some of the albumâs most memorable melodic work. Its guitars move between palm-muted phrases and open-chord releases, giving the song a satisfying sense of push and pull. âBaptized by a Firing Squadâ is another standout, driven by forceful, economical, and immediately memorable guitar riffs that immediately builds up momentum and energy. The moment the song starts, you know something epic is brewing! The track shows a band that understands how a strong riff can carry both a songâs motion and mood.
Casus Belli closes with âJailhouse Rock,â a punk-flavoured take on the 1957 rock and roll standard written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller for Elvis Presleyâs film of the same name, a classic in its own right. Primordial Alien uses the cover not as a novelty but as a statement of lineage. The recordâs occasional retro instincts, including shuffle-based rhythms, 6/8 tempos and other influences have already suggested a connection between punkâs immediacy and rock and rollâs older sense of swing. Ending here makes that relationship explicit.
For all its changes of pace, Casus Belli remains coherent because Primordial Alien never loses sight of the emotional force that holds it together. It is a record built on attack, melody, and contrast, with enough variety to keep its 12 songs from settling into a predictable shape.
We also had the chance to ask Primordial Alien a few questions: keep reading for more!
- What does the title Casus Belli represent for the band, and how did it shape the albumâs overall concept? It is the first part of a planned trilogy, set in a fictional world inspired by my life experiences and others'. This album is about the spark that starts the fall of an Empire, and a revolution to overthrow a tyrannical one-world government and burn it all to the ground. âCasus Belliâ was suiting as meaning âCase for War,â it sets the ground for each album to escalate.Â
- The record moves through punk, emo, alternative rock, piano ballads, and classical influences. How did you keep those changes connected? I have to give the instrumental credit to Raymond Martinez. He handled the hard part of that; I wanted the story progress with each song, I wanted each song to tell part of the story and feel like it was progressing instrumentally and lyrically, evolving emotionally. Each song represented a different chapter in my head.
Which song on the album best captures Primordial Alienâs identity right now, and why? Probably âSynthetic Smiles,â it was part of my story, but I took my own experiences and infused them into it. So it's actually a very personal story and one of the songs where I open my own heart and express my own grief and pain, relating to the protagonist, who is now drowning in his loneliness after the death of his loverâsurrounded by empty people and fakes. All the smiles are and were meaningless.
- What made that change of pace important for the album? I felt like it was necessary for each song to feel like a different chapter of the story, to me instrumentals can tell a story without words so those were the most important part. And I wanted it to build up slowly to the execution of the protagonist. For example, Moonlight Sonata signifies a change in the album and the protagonists accept his death and from there the story continues through more melancholy songs and ends high paced.
How did âBaptized by a Firing Squadâ come together, particularly its central guitar riffs? That was all thanks to Raymond Martinez, he is a musical genius! I play guitar but am just an amoeba compared to that guy. I will say itâs the end of the song and kinda self explanatory, being the end of the story the protagonist is executed.
- Why did you choose to close the album with âJailhouse Rock,â and what does that songâs rock and roll history mean to Primordial Alien? Oh well I love Elvis, I was listening to the song and heard those power chords being played and how fast tempo it was. I thought itâd make a great punk song. I wanted to end the album on a positive note and do something fun, since the album is kinda dark and full of death and despair. Finally, from a marketing perspective it could be a great gateway to my music.
