This Day Forward "In Response" CD
[Equal Vision]
This is a lot different than last year's "Kairos" EP. It's definitely not as metallic. There's still some heaviness to it, and it has a lot of aggressive moments, but the band is moving towards a slightly more diverse emo/indie rock direction than anything. All of the elements of their earlier work are still present (dissonance, rhythmic chord progressions, poppy tinges, nice dual guitar parts, and so on), but most of it's used more subtly. Honestly I was really bored the first couple of times I listened to this. I'm not sure why. Admittedly it's still not the most energetic or memorable record I've ever heard, but with subsequent listens I really started to get into it more. The calmer moments are really nice, and I love the layering of the guitar lines. The singing vocals are generally more appropriate than the shouting/screaming, but I do still like that contrast - I might like to hear more singing with an emphasis on the killer vocal harmonies, but I'd miss the screaming were it not present. Perhaps a few of the songs are a tad long in some respects (averaging four to five minutes), but barely, and there are enough short songs to balance things out in the long run. "Fragile Version" is one of the more rhythmic pieces that powerfully fuses some of the heavier moments with spacious passages that give the instrumentation a lot of room... definitely a great song. My favorite is definitely "The Breath", though. It's just catchier and I love the singing during the chorus. Good stuff. "Euphio Question" is a brief yet excellent "experimental" piece of sorts, mixing reversed percussion with reversed clean guitars and vocals that are softly spoken/sung - and similarly delivered is "The Red Room", revolving around lush clean guitars and quiet percussion with low vocals that are spoken and sung under light effects... it's not quite as interesting, but it is a curious piece. I wouldn't be surprised if these are hints at where the band might head in the future. The recording suits me just fine. Everything is loud and crisp, using natural tones. Nothing sounds problematic to me. The bass tone is thick and has a good spot in the mix, they experiment with various guitar textures throughout the disc, the vocals are mixed right back in there, etc. Perhaps the drums are a bit crisper than anything else, but I wouldn't say that bothers me. All in all it's a good sound for them. I really love the artwork here, though oddly I think the front cover is a lot less interesting than the artwork inside the booklet, which is similar in style and use of texture/color manipulation, but not as focused on the human figure. Everything is vibrantly colored, but still pretty dark in atmosphere, with lots of repetitive textures layered over the precisely collaged imagery. Most of the artwork directly ties in to certain lines of the lyrics, which aren't so bad. I like some of the really brief passages in songs like "Euphio Question", but other tracks have their moments as well. "Words are dead, This is intangible, Coming through in digital, The billboards burn while we make our own space, Their heads all turn while we reset the pace, Don't follow these signs, It is a violation against our will and faith, Ten men in business suits forging this masquerade..." I still haven't been blown away by this band, but they're consistently solid, and I'm definitely intrigued as to what they'll come up with in the future. (7/10)
Running time - 42:04, Tracks: 11
[Notable tracks: The Breath, Euphio Question, Fragile Version, Abandon the Abbreviated World]
Equal Vision Records - http://www.equalvision.com

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