Same musical complexity with a new, harden sound

Bringing on along, dreamy harmonized moments mixed with intricate sweeping guitar riffs, The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die (TWIABP) combined the elements within their newest release, Illusory Walls. The record has lush moments of fast movements and relentless percussion though at times seems a bit too busy. The band turns up the gain setting amps to 11, bringing their most hard-hitting like fans have never heard before.

Formed in 2009 in Willimantic, Connecticut, the band has gone through some member changes, currently featuring Josh Cyr, Steven Buttery, Chris Teti, David Bello and Katie Dvorak. The band’s usual tone of airy, dreamlike ambient tones, mixed with a perfect dose of grit from their last records, takes a turn, bringing in a bit more heat into Illusory Walls. The album comes in as the band’s fourth studio album following their 2015 release, Harmlessness, but that’s not all. They have released several singles, Long Plays, split records and compilation album appearances ranging through the years. Illusory Walls highlights their technical talent and TWIABP’s ability to create beauty within chaos.

Starting the record is “Afraid to Die,” which, at first, calms the ears, then rushes in demanding attention. A very dreamy and aerial electric guitar plucks away with a flowing melody that all seems to harmonize with itself. With a sudden stop, the song surges back in with a powerful force that knocks the mind out of the dream state it was in at the beginning. 

“Invading the World of the Guilty as a Spirit of Vengeance” is a relentless song that pounds and drives from start to finish. Each instrument alone, from the electric guitar diving into finger tangling riffs and the percussion pulsing and driving the track, is beautiful and musically empowering. Though, when all these elements come together, adding in the vocal of both singers, it becomes vastly too busy. The track takes a slow lull in the breakdown, then rises again, but this time, the business seems to fade and all the elements come together perfectly.

One single to come off the record is “Queen Sophia for President,” which is the perfect mix of both heavier emo-indie rock and radio-ready pop. The mixture of the sweetness within Dvorak’s vocals, and the gritty heaviness of the instruments around her, both stand as the perfect juxtaposition to each other.  

“Fewer Afraid” closes at the record, once again starting with a dreaminess as “Afraid to Die,” though it plays with a more spatial quality that resembles floating in space. This track is the longest on the record, coming in at just under 20 minutes. It begins with a beautiful spoken word poem being recited over a welcoming, growing synth drone and the jingle and chiming of bells. Then the song finds itself rising into a stunning musical performance incorporating orchestral instruments with the thrashing drums and hair metal guitar riff.

Filled with true musicianship and technical talent, TWIABP newest release, Illusory Walls, brings forth a new, harden sound.