Album Rating: 3.5

this was pretty good. don't hear really any ALLB. def more circa or sianvar vibes for sure.

album started off decent enough but yeah, it's very by the numbers and I have no desire to listen again

Is this the newest Swancore band that's soullessly ripping off DGD/ALLB/HTS/etc? Because I've about had it with these types of bands. PHC needs a serious kick in the ass because it's been lost in a sea of DGD and HLH wannabees for a few years.

Stolas' 2nd to last album was on the right track.

Hail The Sun is killing it hard still.

Dwellings has been my favorite dgd clone to emerge in the past few years, check em out if you haven't.

@GreyShadow Stolas and Hail The Sun are my my shit, but I just could not get into dwellings. Just sounded like paint by numbers DGD mixed with HTS to me, but I understnad I'm in the minority there. Aside from the HTS, Eidola, and Wolf & Bear, none of the recent swancore bands do much for me. I think the style has just gotten stale to me.

Album Rating: 2.0

Pretty dull.

Album Rating: 2.5 | Sound Off

Man, I miss Stolas too. Definitely enjoyed what they were putting out

Album Rating: 2.5

"PHC needs a serious kick in the ass because it's been lost in a sea of DGD and HLH wannabees for a few years"



how long do we have to wait for mid-2000s-era Thrice to become retro enough for new PHC bands to imitate it?

Album Rating: 2.5

Also, what often gets lost in discussions of No Place is how stellar its production was. This album just sounds so thin and compressed by comparison...even to lesser swancore bands. This sounds like a parody

Album Rating: 2.5 | Sound Off

Basically all vocals and weak leads here. Bass and drums are along for the ride.

@ProjectFreak good point. No Place has some damn fine production that was a huge part of the atmosphere of that record. I'm definitely gonna pass on this. Nothing I've heard about it gives me any indication that I'll enjoy it.

Skimmed a bit of this and yeah, not my tempo. Great write up as always though, Mars.

Album Rating: 2.5 | Sound Off

Not your tempo? Were you rushing or were you dragging?

Album Rating: 2.5

SO YOU DO KNOW THE DIFFERENCE

Album Rating: 2.5 | Sound Off

Are you upset?

Greg from Body Thief here. First off, thanks for the review and checking out the album; we appreciate you taking the time to listen to the album and give our small little band 30 minutes of your listening time.

Your metaphor, or analogy of comparing post hardcore bands in a "war" in which they are fighting to do something new but fall short with "empty capsules" of ammo is quite interesting. I find it intriguing you used the specific albums Conversation Piece of No Place as a reference; in that I personally believe there are a handful of more worthwhile "post-hardcore" or perhaps "ambient progressive rock" albums that are held in a higher regard by the community at large. Regardless; I hear your point but am surprised by your analogy. It's no surprise we share comparisons with various Blue Swan bands, and yes, we are often told we sound similar to artists like Circa Survive, Hail The Sun, A Lot Like Birds. There's no denying that we grew up listening to those bands and most certainly draw inspiration and influence from these artists. Not only this, but we have shared the stage with many of them, such as Kurt Travis or ALLB. These people influence us heavily and the emotional expression they convey in their music has always been something that has attracted us, and something we attempt to capture and recreate in our own music.

Despite the comparison, however, it is difficult to hear statements regarding our band and others in our genre as another "dime-a-dozen Hail the Sun clones, the rest caught in the shadow of No Place’s expert incorporation of atmosphere". In this sentence, you essentially write off and disregard any band that has contributed anything to the post-hardcore scene in the last 6 years. No Place came out in 2019; are you sincerely under the impression that no band has created anything creative in the Post Hardcore community since then ? This of course is a subjective question, and if you feel that this is the case; who am I to argue with you ? That's your opinion. However; I would encourage you to potentially take the time to listen to a variety of other bands that are currently in this scene and creating this type of music. There are so many up and coming creative bands that are playing Post Hardcore/Ambient Prog Rock type music that is fresh and innovative, while drawing influence from other artists in the niche. I'm not going to sit here and list them, but feel free to message me and I'd be happy to suggest various artists that we have played with and or are influenced by who I believe are doing something different in this genre.

Not gonna lie, haha, hearing that our album comes across as "an to aim for such completely unoriginal, uninteresting, perfectly average creations" is quite upsetting; as this was obviously not our intention to be unoriginal and uninteresting and straight up AVERAGE. To hear that this album is filled with cliches and forced vocals is a little strange, but hey, to each their own. If I may ask, what cliche's are your referring to ? Lyrics? Musical progressions ? While we share sounds and draw influence from artists like Hail The Sun, ALLB, and others, in no way are we attempting to create something similar to just "be another band" putting out the same sound over and over. You are totally entitled to your opinion at large, and perhaps you don't enjoy post-hardcore music as a whole and are not exactly familiar with many of these artists. You probably won't (lol), and that's cool, but if you check out a handful of new up and coming bands in the scene currently, I think you will find that there actually is a lot of diversity in the community. However, if you are quick to simply lump all artists together who "sing high" and "have some mathy riffs", then you're likely going to miss out on a handful of talented, amazing artists who are actually making fresh, and creative tunes, but because you are blinded by aspects of the music you simply do not resonate with, then you may be unable to appreciate these nuances and little details that make each of these artists different.

I'm sorry to hear the album that your interpretation of the album ended up being lumped in your head alongside any other post-hardcore album or band, who are attempting to do what has already been done and falling short. At large, I think Body Thief as a whole strives to push ourselves to do something different, and I think if you give our album another chance with a new perspective, you may be able to find elements of other styles or sounds that may catch your ear or attention. However, your interpretation of them being "fresh" and "innovative" is subjective, and so if it simply comes off this way to you, then that is your opinion, and I won't sit here and endlessly try to change your mind. The thing I hope you take away from this is simply trying to check out some other groups in this genre before writing all of them off. I hope you stumble across some of the thousands of amazing artists who are creating fresh and innovative material in this scene. Thanks for reading my post if you've made it this far. We're on tour currently with Kurt Travis and Royal Coda on the West Coast. Thank you for your review - Greg and Body Thief

Album Rating: 2.5 | Sound Off

I appreciate you stopping by. I do spend a decent chunk of my listening time looking around for post-hardcore bands and following the scene in general; however, it's entirely likely that there are bands I simply have not encountered yet. The music scene is gigantic, so it's difficult to always uncover any artist that may or may not be pushing forth something new. Most of the groups that attain focus from me are based off of bandcamp, recommended by other bands I follow or included on their tours. In this way, I do try to keep an eye out, but like I said, it's not easy.



That being said, I like to be honest and write out what I hear, and I did not find your album to be much of a divergence from the sound post-hardcore has established in the mainstream. Obviously, it's not entirely without merit, but there are multiple musical motifs that occur throughout this record that can be picked out of too many similar creations from peers. If you listen to bands a la Hail the Sun, Afterimage etc., there is a definite soprano vocal delivery that populates post-hardcore wherein the vocalist stretches towards absurdly high notes. These tones all tend to blend together across the scene and it does get grating over time, especially when the singer performing may be reaching too far/overextending.



I do my best to keep an open mind when investigating into a given album regardless of its genre, context, and so on. I also try to be fair and dedicate my attention over multiple listens before making a definitive reaction on a piece, as it's all too simple to have a knee-jerk reaction that ends up being baseless. In this regard, I did give Travel Glow a decent amount of spins before really compiling my thoughts and came to find it lacking. We are welcome to disagree, naturally, and I certainly do not wish for the band to experience failure or a lack of success. But I will stand by what I heard and what I wrote. Once again though, thanks for the pleasant response.

Fair enough homie! I appreciate your reply as well !

Album Rating: 3.5

Album's getting a bad rap. It definitely wears some influences on its sleeve but overall it's well-done. Second half has some dope guitar lines