Review Summary: What the hell happened to your sense of adventure?
3 of 4 thought this review was well writtenThere isn’t a single soul on this earth immune to the impact of asking, “what could have been?” The question alone holds the power to create a long lasting confliction in personal matters. It’s easy to beat yourself up over the countless options life might have played out had things been different. Oddly enough it can be taken the hardest through disappointment in our fellow peers that we knew held so much promise. I for one can’t help but contribute this detrimental outlook to any person, place, or thing I’ve obtained a passion towards.
Naturally music doesn’t escape our scope of criticism even if it’s coming from a purely constrictive frame. We could honestly rant till our faces turned blue about what lies in the opening quotation when referring to any band that’s dead or alive. I’m choosing to use this opportunity to bring attention to a forward thinking hardcore group from Milwaukee, Wisconsin called Widower. I firmly believe had this quintet not received such a minimal lifespan they’d be the toast of the town for carrying on where Modern life Is War decided to part ways.
It’s evident where Widower managed to capture the heart wrenching movement of a disjointed youth clambering to keep their head above water. The way jarring deliberations are ominously expelled at this crazy rat race implement a dire awareness. It’s a cathartic illumination few acts of the genre possess and is sorely misrepresented by the new generation riding on the wings of hype. While I won’t claim Widower ever aimed to break ground with this six track EP, I’d be a fool to deny that they shook the foundation down to its roots.
In a running time that falls just short of 20 minutes recipients are bombarded with as much emotional unease as a Darren Aronofsky film. If the melodically serene portions of “Empty Your Lungs” don’t capsulate then the bitter cries of broken man in the build-up from “Wormlips” will floor you. It’s without debate the internal despair evoked that makes it damn near impossible to not imagining welling up in a battered relation. Effortlessly matched are the instrumentations resilient acrobats that swing between impinging moods of the bruising vocals.
If I had to take away lyrical sections that resonates my jaded motions of adulthood it’d have to be the unfiltered realism in “Sunshine.” It’s one of the many instances that should make people yearn for when hardcore wasn’t afraid to express strength through solitude. The
Widower EP definitely stands out very fondly in my eyes because it reignited a flame that was blown out in a gust of mindless tough guys. It’s a shame to speculate where Widower might have gone but a sweet and savory reminder of the much-needed direction which they came.
