In Shades - Old Home (Review)
In shades doubles down on a worn out emo/post-hardcore sound, and squeeze out a bit of interest.
Score: 6/10
Rehashing retired niche genres is a reality of the Rio Grande Valley scene, but sometimes there are musicians with enough talent and awareness to overcome the usual pitfalls. In Shades’s new album exhibits an emo/post-hardcore sound with some art-punk sophistication that was explored by bands like Moneen, At The Drive In, and The Fall Of Troy, with some new tricks.
A sense of playfulness is immediately apparent, with their tom-heavy percussion, strange pleasantly-dissonant chords, and singer Andrew Mendoza’s exaggerated snotty voice walking a fine line between tribute and parody. Daniel Villareal’s screaming adds a great presence, but it’s his trumpet skills that steal the show with excellent tongue-work and vocal quality of his instrument, breaking through the heavy mix.
The lead role in this formula is the genre’s aesthetic, so lyrical placeholders are expected, such as, “You said you’d never leave, but were you ever here?” and “Yeah you, don’t give a fuck about me.” The core problem of the album is how the lengthy song structures start to drag. In “Hues/Melancholy” there are four instrumental breathers that separate the song sections despite them not being much different from each other. During the six and a half minutes of “Little Giants,” the song never truly takes off nor does it give a sense of closure at the end, again, due to the unnecessary breaks and song length.
“Sea Legs” is the high point of the album. With it being the shortest track and the least cluttered, we can appreciate the tasteful drumming breaks, well-defined melodies, and the Circa Survive style guitar-work. To save the album from post-hardcore burnout, “Slumber” changes pace with soft bells to close out the song and album.
These musicians are not amateurs by any means, and although some art-rock elements fall short and the standard emo traits and vocals can become tiring, the album does have an endearing quirkiness to it. The work as a whole is far from flawless, but there are plenty of moving parts in this 6-piece band that deserve recognition.
Score: 6/10