3 out of 5

Label: The Ghost is Clear Records

Produced by: Greg Norman (engineered by)

This is such an almost record: it’s almost the step up I wanted from Stress Palace’s debut, advancing their sound technically and sonically but not necessarily improving on the lack of hooks; it’s almost their lyrically, doing a concept album of sorts of hell on earth and taking some devastating pot shots at consumerism and the family unit but also running out of things to say after a couple lines; and it’s almost there in the performance, with solid, devastating vocals and meaty, thunderous playing that rarely pushes past a good-enough line.

Just a couple years prior, SP arrived in solid form, doing The Ghost is Clear Midwest hardcore thing with a bit of DC punk; a bit of NY sludge; but ultimately kind of familiar – a super promising opening act. Teaming up with ace engineer Greg Norman and masterer Matthew Barnhart for this followup felt like the right ante up to shaping their sound, but oddly… neither serves this thing well. The group’s enhanced use of synths in their sound – more as a noise component than any kind of new wave thing – provides a really dynamic, interesting layer that, between Norman and Barnhart and the band, is never embellished enough to add much effect; at the same time, when the bass and guitar and drums should kick, there’s room left in the sound for the keys, so they don’t kick as much as they could. It’s bizarre.

On the vocal front, on tracks like What Are People For, ‘Matt’ really proves they’ve got the chops to define themselves as an all-time hardcore vocalist, swinging from vicious snarls to a kind Al Shippy rasp to devastating howls, but then this range isn’t applied throughout. Matt’s baseline delivery is still pummeling, it’s just back in the kind of “standard” range and style we heard on the group’s debut. And lyrically, while I think the writing has been sharpened (previously there was some playfulness that kind of felt sing-songy; here, every line matters), there’s not enough storytelling: just saying the same line twice, only shouting it the second time, doesn’t really “conclude” the thought; we wind up with songs that feel like they only deliver half of a message.

So it’s steps forwards and back: the group has theoretically improved on all fronts, but with those improvements come new barriers they can’t quite surpass. We’re almost there.