ALBUM REVIEW: Some Things Never Heal – Cadence
From Scotland we are introduced to CADENCE and their debut record Some Things Never Heal. The band describe their sound as cross between melodic hardcore, post-hardcore, and emo, a daring combination to be sure with the ending results likely to be either something utterly fantastic or something that’s just pure noise, and not in a good way. Luckily for CADENCE they tick off the first option.
Opening track Wounds begins with subtle white noise with dark guitar gradually making its presence known along with what sounds like a piano being played heavily. A chorus of voices joins in and you’re left imagining a late night church sermon where the forces of evil have taken over. Oh, so a gentle start then? Ha! You thought! Rough vocals then come out of nowhere and take you out of the trance you might have been in and leave you in shock. This is CADENCE.
Blending into Memory Drain the guitar takes over and then there’s a shout of “Let’s Go!” before everything kicks off in the best way. The rough vocals themselves are fantastic although in this track and at a few other points of the record they do seem to get blurred and lost within the production, but luckily we have the saving grace of switching to a cleaner vocal style in the chorus that manages to save the song.
It’s not all hardcore and moody as the record does also switch over to the more emo-pop-punk side of things with Condemned and False Picture that sound like a combination of NECK DEEP meets WHILE SHE SLEEPS, with some Tom DeLonge vocals sprinkled in. In Love Forever also shows off a more tender sound that goes between three different styles as it takes listeners through the motions of the story told to us. It starts off with a style similar to that of BRING ME THE HORIZON’s Blessed With A Curse, then it moves on to the influences of TROPHY EYES and TRASH BOAT, before finally ending with a gritty garage sound. It would be nice to say that this is the perfect track, but things do fall short as the vocals, meaning to sound rough and emotional, end up sounding whiney.
That’s probably the main criticism of the record overall; that the rough vocals at times end up sounding similar to that of a petulant teenager, and in one instance on Dependent don’t fully suit the track. Yet it’s not a major concern, as the fantastic instrumentals and breakdowns do make up for any annoyance you might have faced along the way. And there is a return to clean vocals in the title track where you can also hear some influence from 80s glam-rock/metal that helps to create a catchy chorus.
For a debut record, CADENCE have done well. Sure, there are some things that could use some tweaking but they have their sound established and they know what works for them. This is a band to keep an eye out for in the future.
Rating: 7/10
Some Things Never Heal is out now via self-release.
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