After having Troubled Coast’s third full-length ‘Awake and Empty’ on repeat for a few days, I’m still struggling to compare them to other bands within the “scene.” If I was to compare the East Bay, California to anyone I would call them a cross between Balance and Composure, Thursday and (strangely) Underoath.
Nevertheless Troubled Coast have kept the momentum from late last year’s ‘I’ve Been Thinking About Leaving You’ and thoroughly applies it to ‘Awake and Empty’ with the end result being a raw, passionate, and angst-filled post-hardcore record. From the start the powerful ‘Brother’ sets the tone with ringing guitars, aggressive vocals from Mike Scornaienchi which roar through pounding drums whilst subtle harmonies from Cory Bardwell providing a melodic backbone.
Throughout ‘Awake and Empty’ the bands sound is more fuller and take advantage of the crisp production, allowing early tracks like ‘Winter’ and ‘Confidence’ to thrive. Whilst ‘1967’ and ‘Northwest’ highlights the bands intensity with a mix of scream and clean vocals from Scornaienchi and Bardwell, it’s a favourable dynamic that suits the bands style well.
On ‘Twenty’ the bands lyrical sense of desperation through isolation comes to fruition, as the bands instrumentation falls into the background allowing Scornaienchi’s words to be highlighted. The same happens even more so on final track ‘Lonely States;’ “If this is the end then I’m no longer afraid.”
The downfall of ‘Awake and Empty’ is that at times the bands boisterous sound lacks variation and after a few listens it all slightly falls into one. Nevertheless with an intense collection of bitter, (slightly) dark and introspective songs, Troubled Coast have produced a confident, thoughtful record that both at times imitates their peers with gratitude and simultaneously develop their own sound and leave their mark within the post-hardcore genre. On top of that, the bands flowing song-writing gives Troubled Coast a strong momentum throughout and deserves all the credit it gets.
3.5/5
‘Awake and Empty’ by Troubled Coast is available now on Pure Noise Records.
Troubled Coast links: Facebook|Twitter|Bandcamp|Big Cartel
Words by Sean Reid (@SeanReid86)
