ALBUM REVIEW: Scream Through The Walls – As Cities Burn
It kind of goes without saying: but a lot can change in a decade. For US post-hardcore rebels AS CITIES BURN – you could argue the industry they left behind 10 years ago has taken a seismic shift in the time they’ve been gone, though that’s a discussion for another time. Regardless of events during the timeline since their disappearance – the quintet have made their return, looking to spearhead a new wave of post-hardcore relevance.
Depending on how much of an AS CITIES BURN purist you are, you could potentially argue this is the band’s first true comeback in 13 years. Scream Through The Walls sees brothers, and dual vocalists Terry and Cody Bonnette back in the same saddle for the first time since the band’s debut album Son, I Loved You At Your Darkest smashed down barriers for the band. However if you’re going into this record hoping for a new renaissance from the band, you’re likely to be left disappointed – Scream Through The Walls never quite manages to replicate the band’s debut record, either in terms of ferocity or emotion.
That’s not to suggest that what’s on show here is void of quality though, Scream Through The Walls has moments where its hooks embed themselves deep within your skin. But what plagues the record is the difference in quality between this, and their aforementioned debut. Where tracks like Love, Jealous One Love on the bands first outing had the ability to pave the way for bands like LA DISPUTE to take a blueprint and make it their own – Scream Through The Walls never really makes it clear where it’s trying to fit in, perhaps intentionally so.
Live Convinced and Bright White Light are multi alternative landscapes of progressive sound, and it works. Their entangled tones come with a level of intrigue which makes them oddly captivating. Propped up mostly by the flickering guitar work of Cody Bonnette and Hunter Walls – you get a sense that if AS CITIES BURN stuck to this level of creative unpredictability, they could have been on to another potentially career defining record here.
Instead, most of Scream Through The Walls becomes non-descript, it seems apparent that if AS CITIES BURN weren’t prepared to make a record that could match their debut in terms of vitriol, perhaps going in the complete opposite direction would have fared them better. The one-two of Hollowed Out and Chains exemplifies this: their half alternative rock, half post-hardcore approach does little to satisfy either thirst. And sadly this is an outcome that contains most of the record in its grasp, the closest the band get to re-creating their old spark is on the flamboyant Chains which is anchored by the potent drumming of Aaron Lunsford.
Scream Through The Walls had the difficult task of re-introducing a band who had been out of the limelight for an inordinate amount of time. And while this is not a failure of an album, it seems like a distant relative from what AS CITIES BURN have been. There’s still enough here to sink your teeth into, but if you were hoping for an album that took the band back to their ravenous attitudes of the mid 2000’s, you’ll be left wanting.
Rating: 6/10
Scream Through The Walls is out now via Equal Vision Records.
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