ALBUM REVIEW: The Romance Of Affliction – SeeYouSpaceCowboy

Of all the bands of the so-called ‘revivalcore’ scene, California’s SEEYOUSPACECOWBOY may well be the most popular. With a sound and aesthetic that harks back to the days of MySpace, long fringes and even longer song titles, the five-piece seem to have struck a chord not only with those who grew up in that era, but also those who missed out on it the first time around. The Romance Of Affliction is their second full-length – a hotly-anticipated follow-up to 2019’s The Correlation Between Entrance And Exit Wounds. Much like that record, it sees the band leaning into a potent and nostalgic mix of metalcore and post-hardcore imbued with their own trademark sass. They’ve also broadened their horizons a bit here, with this album making for arguably their most expansive offering to date.

One need only glance at the guests appearing on The Romance Of Affliction to get an idea of the name SYSC have made for themselves in just a few short years. For example, opener Life As A Soap Opera Plot, 26 Years Running features none other than Keith Buckley of EVERY TIME I DIE. Given that everything Buckley touches seems to turn to gold, it’s no surprise this track is a total rager. Majoring on violent breakdowns and dissonant, in-your-face panic chords, it sets the bar high for the record to follow. Elsewhere, UNDEROATH’s Aaron Gillespie lend his talents to eighth track and recent single Intersecting Storylines To The Same Tragedy. He’s an even more natural fit with SYSC, his clean vocals juxtaposing strikingly against frontwoman Connie Sgarbossa’s throat-seared screams.

Perhaps even more interesting is the appearance of rapper SHAOLIN G on fourth track Sharpen What You Can. It’s certainly a less obvious team-up, but one that still works surprisingly well. G slots into proceedings with ease, delivering a hard-hitting verse over the band’s gradually building metalcore menace. Rounding out this impressive cast of collaborators are SYSC’s previous split-mates in IF I DIE FIRST, who show up for the closing title track, and producer Isaac Hale of KNOCKED LOOSE, himself already well on his way to both hardcore and production royalty.

The guest appearances may embellish the record, but none of them obscure SYSC’s own quality performances. The double header of singles Misinterpreting Constellations and The End To A Brief Moment Of Lasting Intimacy prove exactly that. Both tracks drip with fraught emotion, with massive clean vocal parts adding a powerfully melodic edge. These cleans remain a common feature of the record as a whole too, appearing far more so than in any of the band’s previous output. They even lean towards pop-punk at points, not least on fifth track With Arms That Bind And Lips That Lock. For the most part, they’re a welcome addition, although it is worth acknowledging that they might grate on some listeners. 

Those looking for savagery shouldn’t be disappointed either though. The aforementioned Sgarbossa in particular brings this in spades, supported throughout by the band’s weighty metallic attack. Lyrically, Sgarbossa “examines struggling with adversity while trying to find beauty within that fight and the hope of triumph.” It fuels a consistently passionate and ferocious performance, with her scorched screams capturing a pain hammered home even more by the fact that she nearly died from a drug overdose just two weeks after the band had finished recording.

At just shy of 40 minutes, The Romance Of Affliction is largely a sensible length for a record like this. Any longer would’ve probably required a little more variation, but that isn’t to say this record is one-note. From start to finish, SEEYOUSPACECOWBOY balance knife-edge ferocity with stirring melodies and a strong sense of emotional weight. They may have lost a little of the scrappiness of their earlier releases, but there’s no question that this is still a band who can hark back to a very specific time without ever feeling uninspired or overly reliant on nostalgia alone.

Rating: 8/10

The Romance Of Affliction is set for release on November 5th via Pure Noise Records.

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