ALBUM REVIEW: Umbra – Grayscale

With their third full-length release, Philadelphia’s GRAYSCALE show a clear refinement of their sound, sounding punchier and catchier than ever before. Umbra doesn’t reinvent the band’s wheel but it does give it a fresh coat of paint that keeps it moving forward with plenty of momentum. Released on Fearless Records with Courtney Ballard (WATERPARKS, FIVE SECONDS OF SUMMER) on production duties, this record feels like the band have really found their feet in this space. 

The album’s opener Without You couldn’t be at a better spot in the tracklist. It opens with such a sense of joy and if anything, spoils you too early. This track showcases what all three previously mentioned parties (GRAYSCALE, Fearless Records and Ballard) are all about and pulls out nearly every trick available to them to drive this point home. Clocking in at four minutes and 19 seconds – the longest track on the record – it’s loaded with catchy melodies, some incredibly fun guitar and saxophone work and a triumphant solo to round it all off. Though it doesn’t do it with quite the same gusto as the opening track, the first half of the record keeps this energy throughout, and frankly it’s a blast to listen to. 

The second half of the album takes a bit more of a laid back approach and though this breather is needed, it does take up too much of the album’s runtime. Aside from tenth track Babylon, the remaining tracks all follow a similar pattern with varying degrees of success. Whilst tracks like Live Again really make use of this pacing and offer up a more heartfelt side to GRAYSCALE, others don’t connect in the same way. This pacing does get a bit too slow the longer it goes on and it really needs the burst of energy that Babylon offers, but even still at this point in the album the energy from the opening tracks does feel quite far away.

As mentioned, in some cases this approach works and gives the songs more room to breathe, but in others the songwriting just doesn’t hold up as much as the opening run. It is very clearly an album of two halves that can feel a bit slow towards the end, especially after how fast it comes out of the gate. There’s plenty of moments in that opening run with tracks like Dirty Bombs and Bad Love to hook you right into the record, but keeping your attention as the runtime continues is where it falters somewhat. That isn’t entirely down to the tracks themselves, but has more to do with the pacing and track placement. 

Whilst the first half offers nothing but good times to be had, the second half strips that back. This shift in momentum splits the record right in two. There are some great moments on each side of this flip, but the record would surely benefit from combining both sides into a more cohesive listen. 

Rating: 7/10

Umbra is out now via Fearless Records.

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