Opening up with “Vindicate“, we’re thrown into the deep end right away, with the band creating a fantastically eerie atmosphere which has the listener intrigued from the get-go. This unease sadly overstays it’s welcome, and the track quickly becomes uninteresting, until it finally starts to find it’s groove around the midway mark. This track sets a precedent for the rest of the album, ending all too abruptly, killing any chance at a cohesive flow between tracks. This is an issue which persists on “Luxuria“” and “My Dearest Faith“, which all also suffer from a lack of flow, ending all too suddenly and really breaking up any potential flow across the release.
Instrumentally confused, there’s elements of brilliance here, particularly when the band is embracing their more hardcore and mathcore elements. One example that stands out to me is the bass-led sections on “Luxuria“, which adds a fantastic depth and texture to what was an otherwise disjointed track, whereas “Sparks Will Fly” stands out for it’s overall stellar energetic, mathy structure which feels equally chaotic as it does controlled. In fact, “Sparks Will Fly” showcases the band at their best on this album, with a perfect display of constraint at balancing complex instrumentation and raw intensity. Whilst it’s commendable that the band have tried to vary their sound somewhat on this album, it is sadly, at times, a bit jarring and comes across as half-baked.
When this exploration works though, wow, does it work well. “Bleed The Vein“, for example, introduces a louder vocal presence and a more dynamic instrumental, blending a variety of sounds whilst remaining cohesive overall. The feature here from Six Shots in Dallas compliments the band’s sound fantastically, and really elevates their sound to another level overall, which is something that sadly could not be said for Empty Shell Casing’s feature on the opener, which felt missable and wasted. “Severance” continues this momentum, and whilst a lot more simplistic overall, feels intentional, allowing ideas to breathe and feel realised instead of stepping in and out of sounds without fully seeing them through.
The closer, “Inferno“, deserves to be spoken about in it’s own right. A clear standout, it sees a completely different face of bulletsbetweentongues, with the band stripping everything back to just a guitar and vocals. Incredibly nostalgic, the rawness and emotional impact here cannot be understated whatsoever. Not to mention the incredible my point of you feature, whose vocal’s truly elevate this piece to new heights for the band. It’s a stark contrast against the rest of the album, but one that was absolutely needed and pays off entirely.
As a fan of The Lights Never Die, I can’t help but feel somewhat let down overall by this album though. The production especially is where I found most issues arose, with there being a distinct lack of punchiness across all aspects of this release. Vocals sit flat, and in most cases, too quiet against the instrumental unit, with their being times where they are completely lost under the guitars. When compared to the approach taken on previous releases, this truly stands out as a step in the wrong direction, and is hopefully something which the band reverts for future releases. With that said, I have no doubt that in a live setting, this will not be the case, and that the band will absolutely elevate these tracks to a level which the LP has been incapable of reaching.