By Beth Maguire
Two years after the release of their debut self-titled album as a signed band, ‘There For Tomorrow’, the band are now back with ‘The Verge’ to firmly mark their return to the Emo-pop music scene with a bang, thanks to some seriously catchy chorus’ and thunderous guitar solos.
The Verge is fittingly the first track on the album as it is also the album name. The opening build-up has a humming bass line and sounds 30 Seconds To Mars-esque. ‘Angsty’ opening lyrics: “Was running free, but now the road is fading, Can’t believe it got to this degree” can be differently interpreted to identify with a mainly teenage fan-base. The chorus is fast paced, thick on guitar riffs and boasts a catchy tune making it really easy to pick up and enjoy. Vocals in the second verse have an echoed effect that helps mix up the ‘samey’ feel of the song, which is very repetitive throughout. The bridge is again really similar to 30 Seconds To Mars style with the whispered lyrics, and lingering bass lines which explode into a roaring guitar solo.
Nowhere BLVD is the second track on the album and it is much more fast-paced and punchy, with a catchy rhythm. It has a notably more 90’s emo-punk feel to it. The lyrics and composition of the song give it the obvious feel that is could be a great live track with opportune places for the audience to get involved and interact with singer Maika Maile, especially on the bridge. Particularly here, as after a long guitar solo the instruments dip and go quite leaving just Maika singing with almost no backing except for a reversed echo effect on his vocals.
SAAVE jumps from quite soft listening one minute, to being heavy with brazen guitars and loud thrashing drums the next. An overall turbulent listening experience and is perhaps one of the weaker tracks from the album, because there doesn’t seem to be an obvious flow through the song. Some of the vocals also sound a little strained on the higher notes but Maika certainly does well to reach them, just.
Right from the offset, The Joyride is different from the first four tracks. It starts off with just vocals, and some quiet guitar in the background, and then quickly picks up into a clean riff until the verse. Lyrics in the second verse are simple and romantic: “We can kiss the sky with flaming lips, deny ever sparking all these fires, all these fires, so burn up with me”, these would appeal perfectly to slightly soppy, loved up teens who like a heavier sound than artists like James Blunt!
Hunt Hunt Hunt is an immediately catchy track but there is an element of ‘cheesy-ness’ in the lyrics of this song. To play on the repeated words in the title, there is a lot of repeated phrases throughout, for example in the first verse “sad, sad, sadly” is used twice, and in the chorus, “I’m on a hunt, hunt, hunt for your chemicals, I’ve got the lust, lust, lust for the criminal in you”. This cringe-worthy repetition continues in most stanza’s and in each chorus. It could be a clever move for live shows as it gives way to plenty of crowd interaction and chants, but it seems more like questionable song writing.
Circle of Lies has a heavy but messy intro, but is redeemed by strong vocals that are again reminiscent of 30 Seconds To Mars because of the whispery quality Maika uses on some of the lyrics. The song comes into its own as it continues and becomes much more fluent after the initial intro and first verse and the skill of the musicians is really apparent in one of the better tracks on the album.
Get It is another impressive vocal performance from Maika, however it’s a shame the song only relies upon being another repetitive track to make it addictive listening for some, instead of better lyric writing or an interesting tune. All of the tech used on this album makes it irritatingly similar to 30 Seconds To Mars’ current style, and the intro to 18 is no exception. It starts off with irrelevant use of club sounding tech beats for the first 20 seconds or so, and then changes into vocals from Maika, which immediately goes into another punchy more punk part full of brash guitars and heavy drums; a generally annoying and messy repetitive track.
Slip Inside (The Barrel of the Gun) is a very “angsty” pop punk track with gorgeous high note vocals that make the song sound more emotive and really make you identify with the plot of the song. Maika is undoubtedly a great singer and this song showcases it very well by being vocally pretty up and down, however it still manages to be very catchy. It’s far more listen-able and enjoyable than other tracks on this album with its sweet lyrics and a lovely hook.
For BLU, a real “WHAT?!” moment springs to mind! It starts out with a soft, slow introduction from piano and then Maika pipes in with high notes again that sound really haunting and passionate. There are light drum beats throughout and some muted down guitar, so most of the focus stays on the piano and Maika’s voice which is a total shift from some of the more guitar heavy and ‘thrashy’ drum tunes on this album.
With Stopwatch Affair we right go back into another punchy pop punk song, which has vibes that scream Decode by Paramore. Another quite repetitive song, where vocals sounds ‘shouty’ sometimes and it’s too loud on guitars, which seems to drown any ‘non-shouty’ vocals throughout.
And last but not least, I’d Be Changing if I Were You is immediately more fun; it sounds like a song you could have a dance to, as it isn’t too heavy. There’s only one real complaint with this song, and that is that it sounds like somebody made a couple of mistakes in the first verse when it came to editing the song, because it’s super jumpy and mixed up. Other than that, this upbeat ‘punky’ track is a real fun listen and one you could totally go wild too!
Although there are improvements to be in terms of variation and improvement of melodies and lyrics in some of the songs in the middle of the album, the start and end of the album are definitely strong enough to make The Verge a great listen.
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