Review Summary: Filled to the brim with intensity and emotion, Love Is Lot Enough is emotionally cathartic Melodic Hardcore at it's best
The UK Hardcore scene has been in pretty good shape for a while, with bands such as More Than Life and Departures releasing some truly outstanding releases in the genre. With Love Is Not Enough, Casey have managed to release an album in a similar vein to their peers which, while being nothing new, manages to be an engaging and compelling listen from start to finish.
The main draw to this album is how emotional it sounds. The lyrics all sound honest and emotional without being overly contrived or cliche, mostly dealing with the fallout of a romantic relationship. The musicianship adds to the emotions expressed through the lyrics, with the guitar work evoking all kinds of emotions. From the more direct and aggressive tracks such as Bloom, Little Bird, Ceremony, and Mourning to the more sombre and melodic tracks such as Darling, Haze, and Passion Flowers, the guitars all perfectly evoke the mood of their respective songs.
Likewise, vocalist Tom Weaver's vocals are all performed with honesty and conviction. While he mostly uses the screamed vocals that are typically associated with the genre, he also makes use of softer, clean vocals where needed, with some tracks mainly utilising this more melodic approach with the vocals (most notably Darling and Doubt). On occasion, Weaver also makes use of spoken word vocals on Passion Flowers and parts of Little Bird. None of the vocals sound out of place, and compliment the musicianship perfectly. As well as this, Michael McGough from Being as an Ocean provides vocals for the chorus of Ceremony, adding to the versatility of the vocals.
Overall, this is an incredibly superb debut album from the band which showed a lot of promise. Aggressive and intense, yet also mellow and introspective when it needs to be, Love Is Not Enough is a great album for anyone into Post Hardcore or any other form of aggressive/emotional music.
Stand out tracks:
Little Bird
Darling
Haze
Passion Flowers
Ceremony
