Review Summary: The most disappointing collection of songs I have ever heard.
You Win Again Gravity is a five piece progressive post-hardcore group from Windsor, UK. Brightly Coloured Landscapes is their second EP.
The opening song is superb. “Written Off As Fiction” is a masterpiece of the new school, progressive post-hardcore. A calm and intricate guitar intros the song with bass echoing the riff. Some very well produced vocals fade in and after a few beats the noise hits. A slurry, west-coast sound hits, background vocals harmonize, and the growls come in. It’s magnificent. The vocals are all rather good and the lyrics aren’t half bad either. The song ends with faded guitar play, quicker and even more complex than the intro.
Unfortunately after that the EP becomes incredibly dull.
The next three songs sound as incredibly similar and boring as any generic metalcore/djent song. In fact, the last two songs bleed together so well I thought it was the same song. And the sad thing is that the aggression isn’t even well made. Because of the dreamy atmosphere the EP carries it all sounds weak and soft. It’s not powerful enough to wild out to, nor is it progressive enough to really listen to and enjoy. It’s just generic chugging and weak sounding growls. Plainly put it’s boring and vapid. Just an utter waste of talent.
I wish that the band had decided to keep the specific style of the opening track. The band’s strong points are lyrics, atmosphere, and guitar play. That is all utterly squandered by the generic chugging and screaming of the rest of the songs. None of it grasped my attention. The progressive parts do not last long enough to satiate my taste for the new and interesting while the metalcore/djent parts are not brutal enough to satisfy my palate there, either. The opener clearly shows that the group is extremely creative - so why don’t the rest of the songs display this?
