Post-hardcore mainstays Touché Amoré create an emotional record with an honest heart on their sixth studio album, Spiral In A Straight Line. With flowing instrumental and a vocal style to match, this album doesn’t take a second to rest.
Opening with “Nobody’s,” the record gives the impression that it will be energetic, it delivers. The opening lead guitar plays a quick game of hide-and-seek with its rhythmic counterpart before fully diving in. The typical moments are filled with the echoing drums and the wails of lead singer Jeremy Bolm.
The most impressive aspect of this record is the balance between all instruments and Bolm’s vocals. It isn’t just a matter of when the guitars decide to give it everything and when Bolm chooses to hold back; it’s an actual dance that lets everyone breathe. The best example of this has to be almost halfway through the album with “Force of Habit.”
In Bolm’s painstaking vocals, the track describes habitual moments, from driving a car to counting the steps on the stairs. Lead guitarist Clayton Stevens and rhythm guitarist Nick Steinhardt hold back from the opening moments. Stevens holds a steady riff for the entire song, while Steinhardt, sporting an acoustic in some portions, dials up the feeling in just a few strums.
Emotions can best describe this record. Every move seems intentional on a deeper level, and Bolm is a significant factor in this.
Bolm has a straining vocal similar to Ollie Sykes of Bring Me The Horizon, but he can make himself sound entirely in control even though he’s losing it in his lyrics. “Goodbye For Now” is a fitting end to the record, and it’s Bolm at his most raw. Even with Julien Baker singing like a siren above him, Bolm is center stage.
However, “Altitude” is arguably the best track on this record. The few seconds of silence at the beginning act like when a roller coaster clicks into the chains before it’s pulled up to the first drop before Stevens drops in with a pulsing riff. In a song where Bolm is trying to understand what’s happening, it details the pain of confusion and the insanity of the sinking feeling of misunderstanding.
“Times like this, I ask myself: ‘Who’s convincing who?’ / The air is thin / I can hardly breathe / As I take the view.”
Touché Amoré has hit the mark with this album, and it’s suitable for anyone who wants to be heard. Emotions can sometimes go awry, but this group controls them into something beautiful.
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