Review Summary: Plain and simple; this is popcore done right.
Have you ever seen those Tampax Pearl commercials where they show a generic brand of tampons in a cluttered desk drawer? After closing the drawer and the mere saying of the word upgrade, the drawer is opened, the mess is gone and the generic brand has turned into Tampax Pearl. Though yet to be scientifically proven, if you put underOATH’s They’re Only Chasing Safety in a drawer, do a happy dance, and say upgrade, you are likely to come across Chasing Victory’s
I Call This Abandonment in its place. Similar to TOCS, it mixes some hardcore traits with a definite pop influence. The difference plain and simple is they make it work.
Right away their heavier side is shown, as the opening tracks pummel listeners with a loud sound. Not wasting any time a yell
“Meet me at the shore!” kicks off
“Oceans Away”. A blend of screaming, and dual octave and power chord progressions intertwine with each other effortless. Singing makes an appearance even before the chorus, showing its strength early. On both ends vocals are superbly delivered with a passionate feel. The singing really shines during the quite bridge, showing some pop sensibility. The opener is a loud, catchy, and fairly simple yet effective tune. Its few riffs work fabulously with the sound. The same formula is continues in
“Unrequited Love” which features another fabulous mix of dual vocals. Music work is nothing out of the ordinary but is performed to near perfection. There are some mean vocal layers which slowly climax to the shouting of the album title with the band in silence. It makes for a hell of a bridge and a memorable song.
Up until
“The Killer Is Me” their dominantly poppy side was yet to show its entire face. However, it does so extremely clearly here. The drawn out chorus hook really takes control of the song.
“This could be a gun pointed at me/Should I move or should I take this/When these angels leave/Please don't tell me that you love me”. Vocals stay mostly sung until the screaming bridge. While typical in format, they make it work extremely well. The track ironically foreshadows the majority of album’s second half as things begin to lose their hardcore edge.
“First Steps To Recovery” is an extremely calm song, almost too calm. It comes off as far too produced and even slightly boring due to its long length. Despite sounding completely diverse from the rest of the material, this is certainly a low point of the record save for the awesome bass work. However, redemption comes with
“Stories, Alibis and Partners in Crime” which continues to show a pop influences. Riffs are in perfect moderation and really accent their respective passages perfectly. The careful use of screaming also adds plenty of taste to the song. Once more they exercise a fantastic hook
“We're running out of time/Suspects, alibis, and partners in crime/and partners in crime”. Following the usual format, the bridge marks the heaviest section of the song, toping off a highlight.
By the end of the record, things are beginning to spoil and their format is becoming a little too predictable.
“Ascension And Escape” seems a bit half-hearted in terms of instrumentals and awkward in composition. Some of the transitions from heavy to melodic are lacking the smooth flow found at the beginning of the record. However, they definitely bring back some heavier traits here which hints at setting up for a pounding ender. Instead, quite the opposite happens in
“Speak Easy”. Its intro features electronic sounding drums, producing a feel reminiscent to an industrial album. The vocals are extremely faint and words are almost impossible to make out. It is actually a pretty odd track that does not seem to go anywhere. The brief acoustic riff sounds great about halfway through as does the bass but other than that this track is just screaming filler and laziness. The last minute of the five minute track is a huge fade out and silence. It almost feels like a cool down, and as enjoyable as plenty of the record was, this is just plain unnecessary.
Chasing Victory did a lot of things right on
I Call This Abandonment. They definitely know how to fuse hardcore and pop influences together to create hard hitting yet catchy songs. Their mix of guitar progressions and riffs along with singing and screaming almost always fit their respective sections of the songs. Drummers won’t have a whole lot to rave about here other than the fact that nothing is overplayed. However, bass players will be quite happy to hear the low end present here. Bass is heard throughout almost the entire album, holding up the rhythm section nicely. I feel the overall production on the record separates this from plenty of other acts attempting the same thing. The same thing indeed, as plenty of the formats and structures used are nothing original and begin to tire as the record progresses. However, it is nice to see a band mixing genres fairly well and not look like lost puppies in doing so. Other than some cliché sections, the only other problem with the record is its inconsistency with two middle tracks and a very lackluster ending. Overall I was quite impressed with Chasing Victory’s debut album and am certainly anticipating their follow up. And to think I used to view popcore as a four letter word. Yes folks, it can be done right and plenty of examples are found on
I Call This Abandonment.
Recommended Tracks:
- Oceans Away
- Unrequited Love
- The Night Your Guardian Fell Asleep
- The Killer Is Me
- Suspect, Alibis and Partners in Crime
Final Rating: 3.5/5
