Other highlights include Reflection for its hooks and vocals which are reminiscent of Separation but with more power, I’m Swimming with its fast and punky intro that sways like a storm from a slow moving current to a fast and visceral whirlpool of aggression and lastly but not least Dirty Head, with its slow and solemn tempo like a funeral dirge with vocals that sound as if they were recorded in a bathroom. The repeated change of tempo also throws you off, as soon as you think you have gotten into it and understand the way the track is unfolding it evolves into a completely different mode. They both have psychedelic qualities with echoing vocals and instruments alike, which is made even stranger with gang vocals and brief bursts of riffs reminiscent of Nu-Metal (yeah seriously, it’s the strangest thing!). Notice Me and Cut Me Open upon first listen both sounded like very run of the mill tracks, but on repeat they began to stand out. The latter mixes sombre vocals whining against echoing, steely guitars and pattering drums before reaching an eventual, hardened crescendo yet still holding a melodic tempo all the way through. The visceral vocals still remain yet tinkling chords and soft drumming, even with the occasional harmonic vocals create an easy-going melody, much like third track Back of your Head.
This rolls elegantly into Lost Your Name with a spine-chilling beginning like wind through a tunnel before clashing into a softer ode.
#BALANCE AND COMPOSURE THE THINGS WE THINK WE RE MISSING FULL#
Opening track Parachutes is a full blown assault of noise and passion, it jumps straight into the action with repetitive driving chords above brutal pounds on the bass drum and symbols before slowing down in brief sparks before vocals louder than ever before tear through the mix with a frenzy, breaking new ground with a more hardcore feel to their already eclectic edge. Against the odds, they have succeeded in making such a flawless album look like a muddled together mess with their newest release, which paints an intricate picture comprising of experimentation, atmospheric hooks, psychedelic interludes and something out of this world.
Sonically, there’s a bit of every good alternative rock album from the 1990s here: from early Nirvana and Soundgarden through the Smashing Pumpkins, to At The Drive-In, to the Foo Fighters and even – dare I say it? – some heavier Radiohead.Storming from the underground music scene in 2011 with groundbreaking release Separation, the Pennsylvanian group had some huge, spacey boots to fill. That’s not to say the lyrics are bad, per se, just… out-dated.ĭespite the moments of articulateness there’s a feeling that, in 2013, Balance and Composure should just know better: do people really want to listen to albums built around the basest expressions of adolescent anger, jealousy, rage, self-pity and self-hatred?Īll in all, this is an album of short takes, and though there are times it’s hard to find something to sink your teeth into, you could do worse than consuming it two or three tracks at a time. On the surface, it could be the songbook of any emo-leaning album from the last decade, rife with vague complaints about society veiled in personal putdowns and coupled with esoteric statements about humanity which, at the end of the day, mean very little. Lead singer Jon Simmons meditates on his dreams and thoughts but, as the first song on the album, sets the bar low in terms of what you can expect from the lyrics which unfortunately have a tendency to straddle the line between unimaginatively generic and wilfully unmemorable. Parachutes is a fine song, a whirl of ADD guitar rolling into a guttural scream, distortion effect.
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