Lament - Touche Amore: Review
are a California post-hardcore band who spent the last ten years releasing one critically acclaimed album after another and peaking with 2016's Stage Four. Lament is the bands third release on Epitaph records and featured a pair of singles that developed significant hype for the project.
Review By Lavender:
While I wasn't the earliest adopter of Touche Amore, by the time Stage Four came around I was certainly on board. I enjoyed the project quite a bit and I've been anticipating a true follow-up ever since. After I enjoyed most of the singles leading up to the record I had pretty significant expectations for the project, and it mostly lives up to them.
Reminders was the most recent single we heard from the record and while it has a much more conventional chorus than most of these tracks but I have to give the lyricism a ton of credit for putting such raw emotion on display. I also think the instrumental pulls off some pretty diverse transitions well and I enjoy the track a lot. Another pair of singles that I enjoyed earlier this year are part of a fantastic run of tracks that close off the record. I'll Be Your Host is another lyrical highlight with some more conventional rock guitar work that goes over pretty well. I enjoy the hook a lot both for it's lyrics and melody and the song goes down as another highlight. Right after this is Deflector a song I regret not covering last year when it originally came out. The track has a melancholic instrumental that perfectly matches its hook. There is some serious vulnerability on display across the track and the composition gives moments to breath through the composition. It has some of the liveliest drumming on the record as well as fiery transitions throughout and it is also one of the only points on the album where I really enjoy the distant quieter singing style.
Come Heroine is a great opening song and an up-tempo introduction to the record which wastes absolutely no time diving into it's most thrilling moments. Despite the track's sound it seems to display a pretty genuine and heartfelt appreciation for somebody who is keeping you grounded and it has me hooked from the first moments. Next up is Lament another great song with a wiry explosion of guitars and absolutely crazy vocals that are barely contained by the songs rapid fire percussion. as the refrains reverb off into the distance they just get more and more impactful in a way that is always so satisfying.
The record hits a little bit of a snag in the middle but picks it up for the records closing sequence after Exit Row. It's a shorter track with Jeremy absolutely pouring his heart out over an instrumental that doesn't really give the same energy back to him. What it really does is set up a great transition into the next track Savoring. While this track features one of the most commercial instrumentals here it works, and then at the bridge they completely throw it all out with a massive explosion of sound. It takes that momentum into a driving drum passage and impassioned chorus that totally wins me over on the track. A Broadcast has a long quiet intro that all feels worth it once the track kicks off. This is definitely the one point on the record where the quieter instrumentation works really well given the raw emotion of the vocals and the dynamic lyricism. A Forecast gets off to a slow start with a distant piano led instrumental and vocals that I really wish I could hear more clearly. Thankfully I forget about all that once the instrumental explosion kicks off and the track hits you over the head with anthemic cymbal crashes and impassioned lyrical desperation.
Though even the highlights on the record do come with some issues there are really only a few songs here for which the issues take over completely. Feign features some of my favorite lyrics on the album but that is pretty much the only good thing I have to say about it. Despite it being loud at points this is one of the record tamest instrumentals and the whole song seems to fade out before it feels like it really should resulting in a song that just has a lot of missed potential. Limelight was a track I was confused by even though the Manchester Orchestra feature initially really excited me. Once again this is one of the friendlier instrumentals that lacks some of the edge other tracks here bring in spades. The combination of that instrumental with Jeremy's vocals doesn't go over very well and those two things paired with the MO vocals make it even worse. There are worthwhile things about the song but the combination is just not effective.
Lament isn't quite transcendent post-hardcore. Even though there are a lot of good ideas on display here the band can shoot themselves in the foot here and there. While questions about the ferocity of the drumming and some of the more awkward distant vocal passages persis throughout the entire record there are still a lot of tracks I come away from really enjoying. The bassline of talent on display is here even though the final product isn't quite as rewarding a listen throughout as Stage Four. 7/10
Album Cover Review By Tyler Judson:
This cover is minimal and nicely designed and seems to be more of a graphic design art piece than an album cover. I like the perspectives and illusion you get from the text effects and the placement of the letters, ut the color falls flat for me. Overall it's simple, but lacks any type of wow factor. 5/10
For more hardcore check out my review of Uboa's Flech Of The World EP here
