ALBUM REVIEW: Nothing Left To Love – Counterparts

COUNTERPARTS‘ endearing refusal to take themselves seriously is fascinating when you consider how far ahead of their contemporaries they are. The band have spent almost a decade being one of the most consistent, reliable bands in melodic hardcore, all while retaining a level of inclusivity that you’d expect your local pub band to parade. One look at the quintet’s Twitter account and you find an outfit that obsess over being accessible: when in reality any self appreciation they flaunted would be justified.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the bands sixth record Nothing Left To Love strays away from bringing wholesale changes to the band’s formula. This isn’t a record that looks to reinvent the wheel for COUNTERPARTS, and nor should it. Despite staying within the realms of the same blueprint for most of their careers, the Canadians’ ace up their sleeve has always been their ability to weave emotion into breakdown centric chaos. It’s a tried and tested game plan which hasn’t grown tiresome yet, and Nothing Left To Love adds enough sharp left turns in the right areas to make this the bands greatest work to date.

The tweak to COUNTERPARTS‘ arsenal, and the key to Nothing Left To Love‘s stunning attack of emotive hardcore is in its flickering flirtations with melody. The gargantuan choruses of Separate Wounds and Paradise And Plague are lifted to another echelon by the insatiably hook lead choruses that run through their spines. The same can be said for Cherished too, which carries the rough edge you’d find on the bands more classic tracks like The Disconnect or No Servant Of Mine – but has an outpour of emotion in its vocal ticks that you can’t help but be consumed by.

Known for their ability to throw in slick, beautiful guitar lines at the right time – COUNTERPARTS keep this central to their attack throughout the record. The Hands That Used To Hold Me and Ocean Of Another are both heaving beats of vigour and verbal tenacity, but are kept unpredictable by the five pieces ability to offset an aggressive vocal attack with subtle, sumptuous guitar lines. It’s this balancing act which has always been the bands greatest asset, and it appears in spades throughout Nothing Left To Love. It’s a theorem that is still yet to sound over exposed though: six albums in and COUNTERPARTS somehow manage to sound fresh, yet familiar.

Nothing Left To Love is as self aware as it is expansive. This is a record that refuses to take unnecessary risks, all while never once coming within an arms reach of being boring. The addition of clean chorus hooks where apt is one that both boldens, and strengthens COUNTERPARTS‘ operation. At a time in their careers where you’d understand if they were looking for reinvention, the Canadians have delivered an album that satisfies every pre-existing fans appetite, and opens a new area for the band which, if explored correctly, could further their stock as one of the decade’s great hardcore bands.

Rating: 8/10

Nothing Left To Love is out now via Pure Noise Records. 

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