Review Summary: Always running, never looking back.
“I was once asked how I’d like to be remembered; I simply smiled and said “I’d rather stay forever.”"
Saying
Is Survived By was “highly anticipated” is a gross understatement. Nobody expected them to make it this far, and Jeremy Bolm even admits his own doubts several times on the album. While some artists may fold under the pressure that comes from this, Touché Amoré proves otherwise.
Bolm’s vocals are as impassioned as ever, to the point where on
Praise/Love he sounds like he’s about to break down. His shouts are the same shrill we all know and love, and he even employs some spoken word similar to Jordan Dreyer throughout the half hour running time. Whilst previous lyrics were often deemed cringe-worthy, they are a definite highlight of
Is Survived By. Hints of the dark topics found on
Parting The Sea… and even the band’s debut shine through on songs such as
Social Caterpillar and
Harbor, the latter of which wouldn’t sound out of place on a La Dispute record.
Many songs come close to the three minute mark – long by Touché’s standards, but the longer running time compared to previous releases has done the song writing wonders. Now the band has time to fully develop the best ideas, rather than cutting them short, a trait which plagued previous offerings. Throughout the half-hour, the band employs the many fantastic melodies we’ve become accustomed to, again evident in the quieter moments on
Social Caterpillar.
Non Fiction is similar too - The band slow down and build up from a Sunny Day Real Estate-esque arpeggio before the song explodes accompanied by Bolm’s incredibly passionate vocals.
Brad Wood’s production is absolutely stellar too. The bass and guitars are incredibly gritty at their most cathartic moments, and are far closer to
…To The Beat of a Dead Horse than
Parting The Sea…. As a result, the band’s screamo and hardcore influences shine through. The clean tone is absolutely stunning too, and works best on the quieter tracks like
Praise/Love and
Harbor.
Put simply, the album is an accumulation of everything the band has ever achieved. They’ve quietly been building a fan-base since their inception and
Is Survived By proves that the remainder of 2013 belongs to Touché Amoré. They deserve nothing less.
"With time comes a layer of rust, and our bones will turn to dust."
