Words: Vladimir Necovski, founder of Delayed Gratification Records
*Disclaimer: I’m not a music journalist. I’m not even a good writer. I run a small local label. This is my first review. With that being said, if this seems amateur or unprofessional, forgive me & go write a better review. These are just a set of opinions I have about an album that recently came out. Thanks!*
Melodic hardcore means a lot of things to a lot of different people depending on how you got introduced to the subgenre. For me, I got introduced though bands like For the Fallen Dreams, Hundredth, & The Ghost Inside. To some that is exactly how they were introduced, but to others they’d disagree with that saying it’s metalcore. While those that say that probably started listening to melodic hardcore through bands like Have Heart, Verse, or Modern Life Is War, the face is that these subgenres is blending more and more today than ever before. I could go on & on about melodic hardcore & all, but that’s not what this is about. While some want to divide and pick what belongs where, there are bands like Counterparts that are drawing influence from both sides and making it work.
Canadian melodic hardcore/metalcore band Counterparts have been one of those bands me & most of my immediate friend group have been into for the last few years. While we all have different favorite songs/album, we can always agree they are a solid band that is always putting out solid releases. Everything from Prophets to The Current Will Carry Us has been a staple in this new blend of melodic hardcore & metalcore.
This leads us to the band’s new record & Pure Noise Records debut album, Tragedy Will Find Us.
I know artwork isn’t something that typically gets discussed when reviewing albums, but the artwork to Tragedy Will Find Us is great. I personally haven’t gotten a chance to buy the LP version yet to see the rest of the artwork (I’m a college kid who runs a label, not able to buy everything as it comes out), but the cover is phenomenal. Nick Steinhart, who has done the artwork for Deafhaven’s Sunbather, Balance & Composure’s The Things We Think We’re Missing, & all of the Touché Amore releases, provided incredible work on this cover. It’s one of my favorite covers of the year so far & thought it should be noted.
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/205484305″ /]In regards to the album’s music, it’s solid. As mentioned earlier, Counterparts has always put out solid releases & Tragedy Will Find Us is not an exception. Musically the 11 songs LP fuses parts of The Current Will Carry Us and The Difference Between Hell & Home, while adding a darker vibe throughout the album and a few new aspects to the mix, most notably vocalist Brendan Murphy’s spoken vocals. I feel that in 2015 spoken vocals in any kind of heavier, faster music is overdone and most just cliché, but Brendan does it in a way that is fitting with this new record. Usage of the spoken vocals is predictable with most of it happening before a breakdown of some sort. Basically, it fits, but is just repetitive. There is also the absence of clean vocals on this record that Hell & Home had. I’m in favor of it. Keeping in step with Hell & Home, the driving, pretty sounding leads are still prevalent & sound better than ever. But as with Currents into Hell & Home, the songs got less technical on Tragedy. While Tragedy does blend the last two releases, it has become more breakdown heavy & emptier. This isn’t a bad thing in the slightest. Counterparts’ manages to make it work & feel like the natural progression to The Difference Between Hell & Home.
Lyrically, Tragedy is what you’d expect from a Counterparts record. Brendan does seem to get a little more aggressive in this record with lyrics like “I hope you f*cking choke to death”, but the majority of the record is about the same as the past Counterparts release, which is great.
Tragedy Will Find Us is another great Counterparts release even though it sounds a little different than their past releases. I’m not going to say this is my favorite record they put out (Hell & Home is), but it deserves at least a listen. They’re one of the hardest working bands in alternative, aggressive music & this record showcases that. Pick up the record, catch them live, and if you’re going to be at Snowed In 2015 in Cleveland, Ohio, I’ll see you there.
Score: 4/5
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