Senses Fail

If There Is Light, It Will Find You

Written by: PP on 11/12/2018 19:48:02

Ready for a throwback to early 2000s emo/post-hardcore scene? After exploring a fiery hardcore and experimental side to themselves on their career masterpiece "Pull The Thorns From Your Heart" three years ago, Senses Fail has opted for full circle and a return to a sound that's more akin to their debut album "Let It Enfold You" than anything else in recent years on their seventh album "If There Is Light, It Will Find You". That's right, you'll recognize nuances of the same beloved emo/post-hardcore sound that the likes of Hawthorne Heights, Silverstein, Armor For Sleep, Finch and Story Of The Year dabbled with early on during their careers as we revisit the upbeat, bright-and-melancholic, yet intense emotional charge of an era that also brought us the best pop punk driven Taking Back Sunday records way back when.

The record is very emotional. While not as riddled with clichés as an early 2000s Hawthorne Heights record, vocalist Buddy Nielsen fires on all cylinders when it comes to heartbreak, misery and painful feelings in the lyrical department. We're talking lyrics where someone ought to stop and ask Nielsen, "Hey man, are you alright?" before we end up with another Chester Bennington. I mean how else to interpret these lyrics in "Elevator To The Gallows": "What a time to be alive, but I'd be fine if it was my last night / God, I pray for the endless motion / To take me out of my misery [...] And ever since you left me / This pain inside hasn't gone away [...] I would rather die than be without my love"? I know they're supposedly about Nielsen's friends battling drug addiction, but still.

Curiously enough, the melancholic, misery-laden lyrical universe is starkly contrasted by a bright, upbeat expression that lands somewhere in between pop punk and emo/post-hardcore. It's a high energy expression with all the classic clean/scream ingredients creating a soundscape that sounds almost exactly like it did on "Let It Enfold You", save for a better, cleaner production this time around. So how does it measure up to the old stuff then, I hear you ask? It's pretty solid. Of course, nothing will beat the EP or debut album in its youthful emo spirit and an energy that can only be captured during your first studio sessions, but if you're in for a nostalgic reminder of how emo/post-hardcore used to sound like during its golden years, then this record is exactly for you. It's a little disappointing the band didn't elect to continue on the path of "Pull The Thorns From Your Heart", but a version two of "Let It Enfold You" is fine, too.

8

Download: "Elevator To The Gallows"; "First Breath, Last Breath"; "Is It Gonna Be The Year?"; "New Jersey Makes, The World Takes"
For the fans of: Story Of The Year, Hawthorne Heights, Silverstein, Armor For Sleep, Finch
Listen: Facebook

Release date 16.02.2018
Pure Noise Records

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