Skip to main content

IN REVIEW: Touché Amoré - "Lament"

 

Touché Amoré's fourth album was the product of profound grief; Stage Four was dedicated to singer Jeremy Bolm's mother, who had passed away after a battle with cancer. Stage Four was cathartic and gut wrenching, a highly emotional album that resonated with basically anyone who heard it.

The gap between Stage Four and Lament, at four years (with a re-recording of their debut album as a hold-me-over), was probably for the best; some separation from what came before works to Lament's benefit and, as such, there's a distance between the heightened emotions and the present, where that supreme sense of loss is still felt but isn't the entire story. Now, it's back to the business of furthering hardcore in a way that few bands have been able to.

The emotive tendencies that became mandatory to tell Stage Four's story return here, alongside perhaps the band's most assured and confident songwriting; this is heavy and fast in places, to be sure, but it also doesn't shy away from a melody. Lead single Limelight is an unapologetically melodic moment that soars (Manchester Orchestra's Andy Hull handles the song's outro), while A Broadcast tracks closer to Pink Floyd than it does Black Flag, at least until the drums kick in.

Though it can't possibly carry the same emotional weight as what came before, Lament is just as raw and cathartic; it's the product of a band that's been forever changed by grief (and a record about said grief) but is learning to move forward. This isn't a record that offers answers, but it does offer solidarity to anyone whose grief follows them.

October 9, 2020 • Epitaph
Highlights Lament • Reminders • Limelight

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Year in Rock 2025

  Alright, I've got some explaining to do.   By now anyone who's visited this blog is well aware of how infrequently I've used this space in recent years; aside from the occasional fertile year of content, I really haven't posted all that often over the last five years or so. There are many reasons for this, which have already been outlined in previous apology posts; but, essentially, it boils down to my own laziness and the cold reality that blogs are, like Refused (again), fucking dead. So, I wouldn't hold my breath for a triumphant return to reviews, or even semi-regular posts, but:   a) I feel like Year in Rock posts have always belonged here and, even though I've experimented with different methods of presentation recently and been satisfied, the "blink and you missed it" unveiling via Facebook stories this year was perhaps ultimately a disservice to the records I lauded. After all, cramming the list into short videos isn't too far off from ju...
Post a Comment
Read more

Year in Rock 2011 Nominee: Sam Roberts Band

SAM ROBERTS BAND I Feel You From: Collider Released: May 10 Having already endured the breakout success ( Brother Down was Canada's it rock song of 2002), the tentative dabbling in the U.S. market, as is the rite of passage for all moderately successful Canuck artists (2003's debut We Were Born in a Flame was the best time to try; one of the best albums of the year, it made a small dent in the American mindset upon its release there a year later), the difficult, druggy third album (the aptly named 2005 disc Chemical City ), and the subdued creative step backward (2008's Love at the End of the World , aside from hit single Them Kids , was really kinda bland), it seems according to script that Sam Roberts would start settling in on his fourth album (and first with the band credited as equal contributors), Collider (you know, I think it was a bad idea to give me brackets). Well, as far as settling in goes, Roberts does and doesn't on Collider .  W...
Post a Comment
Read more

IN REVIEW: Rancid - "Trouble Maker"

As far as punk rock goes, it's hard to name a hotter hot streak than the trio of records Rancid cranked out between 1995 and 2000; the star making ...And Out Come the Wolves , the far-reaching Life Won't Wait and their balls-to-the-wall second self-titled album solidly positioned Rancid as leaders of the second generation of punk. It also preceded a period of slow progression, as Rancid would take eleven years to release their next three records. By the time ...Honor Is All We Know came in 2014, many fans (myself included) had to wonder whether or not this was the end of the road. Such concerns are handily dealt with on the closing track of the standard edition of their ninth record, the positively punishing This Is Not the End . Well, okay then, that's sorted. Now, what of this new record? What do we make of the use of their original logo on the cover, a logo that hasn't graced a Rancid record in 25 years? Is this a throwback to the band's heyday, a new begin...
Post a Comment
Read more