Review Summary: Nothing’s perfect, but we can still have fun
I was slightly taken aback by Apart’s debut album
Gray Light, quickly falling for the simple charm of what its straightforward, passionate screamo. That’s about the sum of what there is to this record; it has no pretensions or unwieldy complications, just a competent band playing their hearts out and having fun. Their energy is easy to ride off. Instrumentally, the album covers its bases without digressions; surging chords are contrasted with clean breaks, furnishing abrupt changes of pace where they are needed. Though a little one-note, the vocals are more than impassioned and animate enough to keep the album intense and engaging.
The main problem with
Grey Light is variety, or lack thereof; there is very little to set one song from another. This does play into the album's cohesion and consistency, but it's hardly the kind to tear up the screamo rulebook. It's also top-heavy; the opening salvo of "Carolina Cold" and "Two Lane Blacktop" is the album's early high watermark, and so the following tracks may seem to yield diminishing returns for a sceptical listener. The exception to this is the closer "Dead Air", which stands out though its frantic intensity and unexpected inclusion of a saxophone in its latter half. "Dead Air" notwithstanding, the temptation to play the opening pair on repeat can't help but take a little wind out of the album's sails. On the other hand, the album is short and sweet; at barely over twenty minutes long, its lack of variety hardly stymies things irreparability.
Although this has a few obvious flaws,
Gray Light remains a fun listen and a firm foundation that the band might build upon. Recommended to any fans of Touche Amore-esque melodic hardcore.
