ALBUM REVIEW: Steps Ascending – Stand Still

Nowhere does melodic hardcore quite like Long Island. CRIME IN STEREO, SILENT MAJORITY, THE MOVIELIFE, KOYO… if you’re looking for something on the catchier side of things to turn your mate who likes pop-punk and emo into a certified spinkicker you could do a lot worse than any of these, or indeed than the island’s latest export STAND STILL. The five-piece have built some solid momentum with a couple of DAZE-backed EPs already and now they’re looking to ascend (sorry) to the next level with their debut full-length Steps Ascending.

It’s a simple sell really: this album is literally all melodic hardcore bangers. It jumps right in with a big catchy chorus in opener Avoiding The Intersection and essentially runs all the way to the end without ever stopping for any downbeat interlude or acoustic number or anything at all that could detract from its momentum. Adrenaline and anthemia are the order of the day here, as indeed was promised by both the title track and Mysticism which offered a first taste of the LP earlier this year and which remain two of its clearest and catchiest highlights even with eight others to compete with across the album’s half-hour runtime.

Steps Ascending is elevated further still – as the best of these records often are – by a real lived-in, heart-on-sleeve vibe. A lot of it deals with vocalist Gerry Windus’ religious upbringing, this perhaps unsurprisingly leading to some existential angst and wrestling with mortality in the particularly striking lyrics of tracks like In The Dying Light Of A Setting Sun (“My body burns with the urgency of now”) and Tower Of Gold (“There’s not enough time in this world”). But it’s not depressing – the energy is far too infectious for that, the melodies too catchy, Windus’ delivery too rousing and emotive, the whole experience too cathartic and uplifting.

Perhaps that’s also why for all its relentlessness Steps Ascending is never exhausting – that and the fact that it ends on an absolute tear, the aforementioned Mysticism and Tower Of Gold sandwiching the proper pop-punk-isms of Gridlock Apocalypse and followed up by the big sentimental sing-along at the end of Fourth Wall to finish. There are some heavier moments along the way too, like the little breakdown at the end of In The Dying Light… or the hard-hitting 6/8 feel of fifth track Dust, and Michael Smith of PAIN OF TRUTH was never not going to up the aggression in his appearance on the recently released We Know The Score, but most of all this is hardcore for everybody – as suitable for the sweaty basement it was made for as it could be for the family barbecue or end-of-term party one might sneak it into.

And ultimately hardcore will always need albums like this – a fantastic retort to anyone who’s ever hit you with the insufferable ‘isn’t it all just shouting?’, a perfect entry point for those genuinely interested in getting into it, and most importantly of all just a great and catchy record in its own right. Long Island delivers again.

Rating: 8/10

Steps Ascending is set for release on June 14th via DAZE.

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