After releasing two records, most recently 2014’s ‘Block Out The Sun & Sleep’ to minor critical acclaim, Seattle’s To The Wind are preparing to drop their third studio album ‘The Brighter View’. But what will make this standout against their previous releases, put out into a scene full of bands screaming to gain major success while trying to differentiate themselves from the ever-growing throng?
The short answer to that question is nothing. That’s not to say this isn’t a good album. It just lacks that special something; that feel of individuality. Though ‘The Brighter View’ may not be a genre-defining release, it could be viewed as something of a career-defining record for To The Wind. With production credits going to Andrew Neufelf of Comeback Kid, there is something about The Brighter View that you cannot ignore.
Every single guitar line, drum fill and guttural scream from vocalist Tanner Murphy sits in the mix perfectly. Not one thing sounds out of place, and this acts to mask some fairly rudimentary song writing. There are moments when this album verges on something greater. Title track ‘The Brighter View’ and ‘Can’t Stay (My Love)’ glisten and will be the most remembered songs from this offering.
Whether you like, love or loath To The Wind one things remains exceedingly clear, they have passion. The lyrics, although in places a little cheesy and overall pretty cliché, are delivered with integrity and belief. In ‘Hard To Live, Harder To Love’, Tanner roars “We’ll never know what’s in your f**king head” channelling every bit of emotion he has to give. Every bit of instrumentation is played with conviction and every beat is meaningful. This should be enough to help ‘The Brighter View’ to find an audience that will appreciate these traits.
If you want an album that will excite and surprise you this may not be the one for you. If, however, you are a fan of hardcore and metal maybe, just maybe, To The Wind could breeze their way into your head and heart.
2/5
‘The Brighter View’ by To The Wind is released on October 7th via Pure Noise Records.
To The Wind links: Facebook|Twitter
Words by Jay Harrison (@Just_Jay_89)
