Review Summary: Issues has returned and put out another album that will end up being "a waste of space in our heads".
After another year has passed, the post-hardcore outfit known as Issues has returned by putting out their secondary release titled “Headspace” and I have gotten the wonderful opportunity to listen to it in its entirety. As a result, this band has tried making leaps and bounds but fell short with this unfortunate product.
As time went by for these pop-core divas, it’s no surprise that the band wanted to experiment more on the instrumentation and put out an album that is far more technical than their self-titled debut. However, it seems like they pushed themselves too far to the point where they got lost in trying to be as unique and original as possible (instead of focusing on the consistency and flow of their songs) to the point where it sounds forced and broken. And while Tyler Carter’s delivery on the clean vocals along with the production of the album does justice for the album, it does not stop it from being a disastrous experiment.
The prime example of those faults takes place in the opening track of the album titled “The Realest”. The guitarist, AJ, does what he can but ends up making bland repetitive guitar noises during the song while adding a bit of a breakdown in the middle section while trying to make it sound as unique as possible. Unfortunately, it ends up sounding cheesy and sloppy proving that AJ still has yet to improve on his guitar skills. Skyler Acord manages to pull off a great bass line but is ruined by the ridiculous scratching noises done by his brother Tyler Acord (who is no longer in the band but still helps with the production duty). It only gets worse when Michael Bohn chips in on the unclean vocals of the beginning of the song and tries to sound like Chris Fronzak from Attila which ends up sounding worse than Fronz could ever wish to sound. Aside from the pre-chorus and chorus of the song, everything about it was a mess
Now even though the rest of the album improves from the first track, it does not come close enough to pull off a complete 180 but it tries its best to be somewhat tolerable. “COMA” manages to pull off some good riffs while trying to blend in some emotion making it end up sounding decent and while Michael’s cleans make it sound a bit mediocre at times, Tyler’s clean vocal work helps the song a lot more. “Flojo” is another track that includes some well thought out riffing while adding more of a groovy element to make it sound more upbeat and enjoyable as compared to “COMA” which has more of a slower pace to it. Another highlight of the album includes the song “Badge & a Bullet Pt. III”…..oops I mean “Blue Wall” which musically has a dark and gloomy flow to it which you can find from Nu Metal bands such as Soulfly and adding a hardcore vibe to it while lyrically bringing talking about police brutality which is one of the main issues in our world which plagues most of the countries.
While the band HAS the potential to become the next CHON or Polyphia and write out some thoughtful progressive rock/metal music, the album still falls flat. While trying to experiment and break some mold in the core community, Issues still tries to cater to the audience they first built up with their self-titled and EP releases. Much like how their self-titled felt like it was blended with things that just can’t mix, the second album falls in the same trap. What makes it even worse than the self-titled debut is that this time around, most of the songs are even more forgettable, lazily written, rushed, and generic. The lyrics are essentially the same types of topics that you heard over a million times before (ie: bad relationships, standing up to bullies, be yourself, etc.). And although they are topics that have a positive image to them, it still doesn’t stop them from being generic (generic being a word that Issues fear the most). And although Michael decided to sing making the band have two singers instead of one, it’s still an idea that’s been done before (We Came As Romans, Crown The Empire, etc.) and therefore still ends up making the band sound like every other core band in the sub-genre. Of course the main difference is that the guitarist and bassist have started to open their eyes and see the world outside of nonstop chugging but they just end up making the band sound inept and broken. If you are a fan of bands with an inept sound to them, then I recommend this album to you. But other than that, it’s a pathetic excuse of an album. I guess Issues will continue making music that’s a waste of space in our heads, am I right?
Songs recommended: Blue Wall, Flojo, COMA, I Always Knew
