Review Summary: posi wholesome toothbear.
For reasons that might not immediately be obvious,
The Surface marks an important stepping in stone in Beartooth's – and by definition – Caleb Shomo's musical and spiritual journey. On the surface (haha) and judged by its own merits, Beartooth's fifth album is easy to write off as a disposable, pop-ridden. rock and metal offering that at that times flirts just a
little too hard with SiriusXM Octane-listeners. But the reality is that going from hearing the absolutely gut-wrenching outro to "Sick and Disgusting" from nearly a decade ago, where Caleb breaks down into tears in the vocal booth. that is preceded by his sentiments of
"I just wanna feel loved" to the feel-good anthem of this year's "Might Love Myself", is indeed powerful.
In fact, "Might Love Myself" might be the most reinvigorated that Caleb has sounded in years; layering infectious hooks and melodies on top of soaring instrumentals and quirky ad-libs that clearly signify his newfound lease on life: no longer content with moping about his years lost to struggling with alcoholism, depression and suicidal thoughts. It's a triumphant cut that brilliantly showcases a vibrant and more colorful side of Beartooth's sound and winds up being the catchiest song he's written to date. Hell, even the opening title track sandwiches unusually bouncy riffs and drum patterns around an equally crushing, yet uplifting chorus before saddling back into more familiar breakdowns that has permeated the band's (Calebs?) discography since the very beginning. The first half of
The Surface continues Caleb's shift into writing about self-love, joy and overcoming his past vices and last year's "Riptide" feels naturally slotted in the tracklist at number two, where he does away with much of the grating downtuned riffage and cymbal-kick-snare drum motifs that were far too prevalent on
Below and
Disease, in favor of more dancey instrumentals and less screaming. I'll even admit that the country twang on "Better Me" is a refreshing change of pace that sounds like something that was handed to him by also former Attack! Attack! member and one-man band Bilmuri aka Johnny Franck – it gives
The Surface a much needed sense of singularity compared to his previous records.
Unfortunately, signs of repetition still rear their head more than they should as Caleb seemingly insists on utilizing the exact same intro-verse-chorus-breakdown-chorus-reprise of breakdown structure that has remained a staple since
Disgusting with the latter half of the album being the worst offender of this. The slightly heavier cuts of "What's Killing You" and "What Are You Waiting For" also fail in bringing anything new to the Beartooth-formula: you know
exactly where these songs are headed within the first 30 seconds. Still, his newfound knack for writing peppy pop-hooks, which is where his biggest strength has remained all along, helps give
The Surface a slight edge over his more uneven records that came before. At its best,
The Surface reinforces the fun side of Caleb's writing that has always been there and does just enough to combat the fatigue that was starting to settle in with his previous material. With more songs like "Might Love Myself" in his belt, Caleb could very well continue his ascent to super stardom in the rock and metal scene, provided he can continue to shed some unnecessary baggage.
