Review Summary: Sianvar is solid, but just solid.
Trying to ignore the parts of the whole would be tantamount to doing a disservice to the highly talented conglomeration that is Sianvar. Indeed, the parts of the whole are seemingly of vast importance; Sianvar is a post-hardcore band comprised of (disputably) the most talented active musicians in the current post-hardcore scene, and as such it can understandably be victim to high-flying expectations. Name-dropping aside, Sianvar's roster is assuredly very solid. After all, with vocal talent from Hail the Sun, guitars from Stolas and Dance Gavin Dance, and percussion/bass duties from A Lot Like Birds, what are listeners supposed to expect except more top-notch post-hardcore?
Therein lies the problem; each of the aforementioned bands have already established themselves as frontrunners in the modern scene, and they all work roughly in a style that's similar to the next man in line. It wouldn't be unreasonable to expect Sianvar to sound pretty damn close to any of the bands that contributed members to this supergroup, and fittingly enough they truly do sound like a mix of their contemporaries. To the credit of the members' musicianship, they
have managed to create something cohesive and enjoyable; take the band out of context, and what you have is a solid, but not overly impressive chunk of experimental post-hardcore. Sianvar's overarching issue is how homogenized the sound is. As catchy the hooks can be, as powerful the vocal performance is, as excellent as Will Swan's very technical riffing can be, the whole thing has a very frustrating tendency to bleed together. Perhaps it's due to the sonic assault of every member eagerly demonstrating their technical chops, or perhaps it's due to the production (which is perfect, by the way), but Sianvar's EP doesn't do much other than serve as an interesting addition to the collective discographies of the band members; there's not enough substance on here to sustain anything more than a five-song EP. It will not stand the test of time.
