ALBUM REVIEW: Nella Vita – Grayscale

GRAYSCALE has brought their best efforts to 2019 with their new album Nella Vita, a courageous endeavour into new avenues of their sound that has already caused a shift within their audience. Their latest release can best be described as an emotional rollercoaster through their beloved raw lyricism that frontman Colin Walsh carries through their album, tackling issues of sex, drugs, death, despair and the complications of life. This album lays out every card in tracks like Twilight (My Heaven), Tommy’s Song and Asbury, arguably making this their most open and honest piece to date.

The pop punk industry isn’t a favourable market for new talent, it’s become a survival of the fittest era to escape the vapid hole of becoming a generic BLINK 182 cover band with nothing to offer, but escaping the boringly expected is met with some unexpected disdain. Though on the surface, listeners might assume that Nella Vita is a direct departure from a considerably ‘typical’ pop punk sound that GRAYSCALE climbed into the industry with on their EP What We’re Missing. After a deeper analysis one could argue that this album is a better-rendered version of their old sound that is instrumentally expansive, like on songs Baby Blue that’s a serious 2010 emo throwback with drawbacks to a MAYDAY PARADE/ALL TIME LOW hybrid sound. Twilight (My Heaven) and Painkiller Weather are angst fuelled power ballads, and especially In Violet that listeners might compare as the baby sister to Let It Rain. It’s clear to listeners that the Philadelphia five-piece crossed new boundaries for what defines their music, although some songs here have been hits and others misses.

That’s why what makes this album amazing to listeners may also be what causes issues in navigating through the album. Unlike their 2017 effort Adornment, Nella Vita isn’t a cohesively flowing album but rather a scrapbook of sounds that can massively juxtapose for better or worse. For example, Asbury to Desert Queen is a fitting transition that’s a necessary uplifting moment for listeners to carry them through the rest of the LP, but YOUNG to Twilight (My Heaven) sticks out for its drastic tonal shift and sound contrast that when listening to it, it just doesn’t flow as smoothly.

In the inevitable battle to survive an overly-saturated market bands do need to change for their own creative well-being and for any chance to achieve long sustainability. But fear not, the changes that come with this new chapter are mostly a refreshing gulp of new GRAYSCALE tastes. Tracks like What’s On Your Mind and In My Arms almost feel like a subtle homage to the 80s retro pop vibes that isn’t too overbearing on their foundational pop punk sound and if anything, merges brilliantly with the ‘pop’ aspect of their instrumentals to create some exciting, catchy tracks. It’s especially present at the start of What’s On Your Mind that vaguely sounds like I Wanna Dance With Somebody by Whitney Houston.

But the tall glass of Nella Vita does come with a slight bitter aftertaste. Older fans might not warm as easily to tracks like YOUNG or Desert Queen that favour to a radio-friendly market, built on repetitive instrumental backings and production-happy stylings that result in noise, simply just noise. To the average listener, they simply overdid it on some tracks here.

But to their credit, Nella Vita is a good effort for a second album that serves a purpose of being a “different” direction for the band. Whether you like it or not, the sound shift is a talking point that will help push their album to more people. The face of pop punk is an ever-changing one that’s becoming more expansive from bands like ALL TIME LOW and BLINK 182 commercialising their sound from its grittier pop punk days to something more mainstream, so it seems unfair to fault a band for simply trying something new. For the most part, Nella Vita is a creative endeavour that expands on their foundational sound with new elements that lean into the ‘pop’ in pop-punk but don’t hold back in their raw vulnerability within its lyrics. Though some songs won’t be fan favourites, GRAYSCALE could have easily made an uninspired rehashed version of Adornment part two, but they didn’t and that should be appraised.

Rating: 6/10

Nella Vita is out now via Fearless Records.

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