ALBUM REVIEW: Another Kill For The Highlight Reel – Save Face

Remember when emo was fun? Not like mosh-pit catharsis yelling along to sad anthems fun, but properly, theatrically, melodramatically fun. SAVE FACE do. The New Jersey gang (yes, the MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE references positively scream) unleash the feeling of the bright stage lights jarred up against the darkness of their familiar subject matter on second album Another Kill For The Highlight Reel, and it’s a sheer delight. Influences across the board feed into something that’s a cocktail of all the best bits of the 2000s plus an injection of 2021.

The twinkle of piano that opens the record sets the pace, and Another Kill For The Highlight Reel doesn’t falter for the entirety of its runtime. The overarching standout from SAVE FACE’s gory, glorious sound is the fact that they really, really know how to write a hook. Curse Me Out is the first time we hear that classic drawn-out intonation of a chorus line, inviting you in to catch up and sing along even if it’s your first time listening, and then there’s no stopping SAVE FACE. The title track soars evilly through its earworms, right the way through to the final dying gasp of moody penultimate track Watch You Die Again. And then when you think that’s it, gorgeous closer Please Murder Me comes through – it’s an acoustic piano number, a noir ballad that sees SAVE FACE howling more beautifully than ever before.

There’s a tiny sniff of what could almost – almost – feel derivative of a post-Pretty. Odd., pre-Vices & Virtues glamour album from PANIC! AT THE DISCO, but SAVE FACE handle their influences with elegance and just the right amount of conspiratorial winks to dodge any rip-off claims. Aforementioned album highlight Curse Me Out exemplifies the subtle balance between, well, absolute brilliant theatrical lack of subtlety with a brilliant punch of a chorus bursting through jaunty piano verses… the list goes on. This song, as well as the title track, and opener The Funeral You’ve Been Asking For, are among the album’s most theatrical and most Broadway-ready. They’re the moments where SAVE FACE seem to be having the most fun, and they shine appropriately.

Amid the piano and the glamour, though, there’s a whistle-stop tour of the influences that fed into all the obvious comparators, too. Post-hardcore gem of a track Sharpen Your Teeth barrels out of the gates with a restless guitar and a dangerous vocal, down at the heavier end of SAVE FACE’s spectrum alongside scream-along emo anthem A.M. Gothic. Down at the other end is a masterclass in pop-punk – Bury Me (Tonight)’s riffs are a total delight, impossible not to grin along to their vibrant melée of energy. From Bury Me (Tonight)’s 2007 glory, we can swing up to GLITTER for an undeniable shift to 2021: WATERPARKS, watch out, because SAVE FACE are nailing your blueprint with a little extra vampire-fanged bite.

SAVE FACE haven’t slipped up for a second – they’ve delivered a dark delight, with not one track blending into the background. Another Kill For The Highlight Reel is a gripping rock melodrama that does everything it needs to, but without taking itself too seriously. With it, SAVE FACE establish themselves as masters of their craft.

Rating: 9/10

Another Kill For The Highlight Reel is out now via Epitaph Records.

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