Review Summary: Screaming out loud, shameless and proud
Over the last 10 years,
The Bunny The Bear have been running around the scene as one of the more "love or hate" type of bands; some unironically enjoyed the Frankenstein that was
If You Don't Have Anything Nice To Say..., while others just prayed that they would just disappear into the void and never return; whether you liked it or not, the basic formula behind that album was more or less used for every succeeding album with the added bonus of far more polished production (and in the case of the past two albums, different clean singers as well). But, as times change and with the Bring Me The Horizon effect being stronger than ever, it was only natural that The Bunny The Bear would try their hand at going pop; the
You Have To Die A Few Times EP was the stepping stone towards what they have dubbed
Afterglow.
There are two things you'll notice with
Afterglow right off the bat: first of all, there's
yet another new bear—Jake Reeves is sonically a mix of both
The Way We Rust Bear Joseph Garcia and the band's most well-known clean singer Chris Hutka; the man gives us the best of both worlds and brings a lot of
Afterglow's appeal to it's table. Matthew Tybor (the bunny + sole consistent member of the band) hasn't changed at all, and it shouldn't really be expected for him to change either—his high and low screams are excellent, however just like on
The Way We Rust his mid-range yell tone is far better than it was on previous releases, likely due to the fact that he has more or less learned to keep control of it over the past decade of the band's run. Instrumentally, the album draws major influence from pop; it's far more evident on tracks such as "Visions" and "Burn" (the two biggest stand-out tracks), while the five bundled tracks from
You Have To Die A Few Times (that's the second thing: yes, they seriously put that
entire EP on the album!) are far more akin to the earlier days of the band, albeit with the fleshed out mixing/production style found on
The Way We Rust.
The impressive part about the pop tracks on
Afterglow is that aside from the admittedly weak opener "Futures", The Bunny The Bear pull the shift off well; it's always been the band's forte to try out oddball ideas at least a few times on every album, and all the while Tybor has been working on some very pop-oriented side projects, so the band's shift doesn't come off as forced at all; "Visions" is
incredibly catchy, while "Burn" also displays the band
nailing slower ballads in the style while also doubling as an incredible showcase for Reeves (Tybor is practically
nowhere to be found on the song outside of sung backing vocals). "Home" and "Tell The Truth" give us some very well-done synth work, and "At The Top" gives us top-tier throwback dubstep execution. Lyrically, The Bunny The Bear have...
somewhat improved. Tybor has managed to avoid being downright cringey this time around, though genericity repetition is still a big issue for him. However, some of the lyrics on
Afterglow are some of the strongest the band has put out in their career: "Burn" feels like a
very heartfelt song abut self-improvement and moving on, while "Let Go" is one hell of an admittedly sorrow but needed "f**k you":
I'm struggling to be a better man
It's just no use
I think I found my demons, they're not dead
And they're calling you
-"Burn"
I'm falling apart, it's what I feel in my heart
And what I feel is my heart telling me it's over
We've crossed every line and there's no need to rewind
This friction in my mind is screaming "take it slow"
-"Let Go"
Tragically,
Afterglow flies off the rails in the production department. There's an occassional hint of good mixing, but
jesus christ it's so over-compressed that it nearly gives
Hypertoughness a run for it's money. Bass is expectedly and unfortunately inaudible on the heavier tracks (though the pop tracks thankfully give it breathing room), and guitars and synths tend to get the production favoritism as usual. Nevertheless, The Bunny The Bear have not only put forward a success story in between the multitude of failures within the "every scene band turns pop" saga, they've put out the strongest album in their career. If they manage to overcome the final hurdles, then things are looking incredibly promising, but for now we've got excellence in it's own right from the masked madmen of Buffalo.
