New Hampshire newbies Our Last Night are one of the latest additions to the roster at Epitaph Records, and their début album The Ghosts Among Us demonstrates that they could make a really big wave – if only they’d rock the boat a little bit.
I’ll bet your town has a young band just like Our Last Night, and therein lies the problem – the problem is saturation. When you’re playing the same material as a hundred other bands, all the talent in the world isn’t going to make you stand out from the pack.
And that’s a shame – because Our Last Night evidently have talent to burn. Not just at a technical level, either; there’s some great song structuring at work on The Ghosts Among Us, little riffs and themes shapeshifting their way through the tunes, dynamics to die for … if you’d missed the last five years of haircut hardcore, you’d probably be blown away.
Opening song “Symptoms Of A Failing System” is a blinding track, for example, showing Our Last Night pushing hard at the boundaries of their style with super-technical riffs that border on metalcore, angular rhythm work and lyrics that never quite do what you’re expecting them to. It’s still very much a screamo number, but it has surprises in its pockets, and promises great things to come from the rest of The Ghosts Among Us.
But then you can hardly make out the chorus of “Timing Is Everything” over the sound of your expectations shattering - the second song’s ingredients are drawn from the same shelves, but it’s as if Our Last Night decided not to reach so far or high for this tune. The melodies are obvious, the sentiment clichéd, the pace is absent.
The Ghosts Among Us continues in this hit and miss manner, with some little flashes of genius and inspiration (like the mid-section of “Surviving Disasters”) shining through hedgerows of beautifully-executed business-as-usual (”Dreamcatcher”). Let me say it again – Our Last Night are a talented young band, but they’re marching to the same drum as too many others.
The Ghosts Among Us will doubtless appeal hugely to a certain demographic, and that’s just fine; I don’t believe bands should try to be everything to everyone. But I can’t help but feel disappointed – it’s plain to hear that Our Last Night could break out of the mould if they chose, and that The Ghosts Among Us could have been something more than vanilla screamo with some chocolate sprinkles.
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Posted in Music reviews |
Tags: hardcore, metalcore, Our Last Night, screamo, The Ghosts Among Us
