Review Summary: It leads to familiar grounds.
It’s been almost four years since we last heard from The Pineapple Thief, whose 2020 LP,
Versions of the Truth felt less enticing after a solid run with current drummer, Gavin Harrison. A break was needed, as the band constantly pumped out full lengths over the past couple of decades. Unfortunately, this latest affair,
It Leads to This continues in the same vein as its predecessor, without much improvement on the songs’ charms. It definitely isn’t as solid as
Your Wilderness or
Dissolution, but it does have its moments. Most of the highlights lie in that moody, alternative prog territory these guys do so well. Opener, “Put it Right” offers some Mezzanine vibes with its subdued melodies, where the drums and bass are joined by melancholic piano chords. Soord’s soothing croon does a compelling job over the smooth instrumental. Same goes for “To Forget”, a tune augmented by Gavin’s inventive drum patterns that create a tension always on the verge of bursting. At some point, the guitars flirt with a round of distortion, yet they play only a small part of the song’s gnarly segments.
Moving further, “Now It’s Yours” is perhaps the most interesting number here. It creates a darker, rather depressive setting during the first half, as synths and piano beautifully blend together, switching halfway to a heavy, riff-laden part. The layered vocals again sound lovely, adding to the initial, intimate atmosphere. Nevertheless, the main downside remains the thin tone of the guitars when trying to rock out. For the sharp leads it works fine, still, there is no real crunch to them. Therefore, they go from slightly cheesy metal presets to constipated chugs. “Rubicon” is one of the tracks that suffer from this issue. The band aimed for a more aggressive approach, but needed a meatier production and higher volume for the guitars in the mix to truly kick in. It's a shame, since the tune is nice overall. Also, on “Every Trace of Us” Soord goes for a powerful break, still it doesn’t achieve the intended punch. I understand they don’t want to go full Porcupine Tree, however, the sound is too clinical to have the desired impact. After a couple listens, it becomes obvious The Pineapple Thief remain stuck in a rut, delivering more or less the same record as before. Maybe going metal or full prog will yield better results in the future. Unfortunately,
It Leads to This turned out only marginally better than the previous LP. They can do better, so a more drastic change of direction might be helpful next time.
