Artist: Stillglow
Album: Wrath
Genre: Post-Hardcore

Eccentricity is an art in of itself. The process of combining intertwining elements into a cohesive piece of work is a difficult thing, but certainly something post-hardcore act Stillglow strive for. With their new EP Wrath, the band aggressively shoves influence after influence into the listener’s mouth, sometimes making it difficult to swallow, while other times creating a perfect meal.

The opener, “The Heretic,” is a chaotic vomit of sound, static, and melody. Combing elements from letlive., to Glassjaw, and even at times Refused, “The Heretic” has a schizophrenic identity crisis. While on their own, all the elements Stillglow bring to “The Heretic” are well executed, but I have a hard time understanding the necessity for why they are all put into the same song, and so often at that.

This question on linear order is less prevalent on “The Charlatan,” which provides a more advantageous example of what Stillglow are capable of. Frantic in a more contained and consciously executed way, I found myself starting to enjoy Wrath a lot more on “The Charlatan.” Things made more sense, yielding an equilibrium of chaos and calm, the sonically slower delve shows signs of a band beginning to find their groove.

Closer, “The Avarice,” is another step for the band, highlighting that the EP gets consistently recovered as it moves forward. The closer is consciously written, well executed, and I believe holds the excitement that the band wished to express on opener “The Heretic.” Just because you make something weird and frantic, doesn’t necessarily make it elevated.

While short, and sometimes difficult to take in, “The Charlatan,” and “The Avarice,” are what make Wrath worth it. While not an incredibly moving piece of work, I believe that if Stillglow continue with what they started on the last two thirds of this release, we are in store for a great piece of work from them in the future.

SCORE: 7/10

Review written by Drew Caruso – (Follow him on Twitter)

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Drew Caruso

Drew Caruso is a Bostonian who, when not writing about music and film, spends his time getting lost in New England, reading books, talking about science whether people want to listen or not, and more. To see the thoughts of a scientist by day and a writer by night, follow him on Twitter.

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