{"id":2862,"date":"2017-03-02T11:33:55","date_gmt":"2017-03-02T11:33:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-senses-fail-in-your-absence-ep\/"},"modified":"2023-02-24T14:59:38","modified_gmt":"2023-02-24T14:59:38","slug":"review-senses-fail-in-your-absence-ep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-senses-fail-in-your-absence-ep\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Senses Fail &#8211;\u00a0In Your Absence EP"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><figure class=\"tmblr-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/78.media.tumblr.com\/a6aec876dfcb6f232ef6ea00fd63479f\/tumblr_oczgq9lfGb1r8no6so3_r15_1280.jpg\" width=\"250em\" alt=\"\" title=\"\"><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n<p><b>Senses Fail<\/b>\u2019s last full-length album, 2015\u2019s <i>\u2018Pull The Thorns From Your Heart\u2019<\/i> proved to be perhaps being the breaking point of a sound that has become both heavier and weaker over the years. Now the post-hardcore veterans seem to be attempting to atone for their mediocrity by going in the exact opposite direction. There are only two possible reasons for a band choosing to release the dreaded acoustic EP. Either they are bored, or, they are failing to strike creative gold in tried-and-tested ways. So which applies to <i>\u2018In Your Absence\u2019<\/i>?<\/p>\n<p><b>Senses Fail<\/b> vocalist Buddy Nielsen has revealed the main inspiration behind the EP\u2019s songs as wife\u2019s battle with multiple sclerosis. With this in mind, it feels somewhat heartless to dismiss <i>\u2018In Your Absence\u2019<\/i> as depressing and bleak in the worst sense. But its not the subject matter, nor sentiment, where Nielsen falls short. The melodies are dreary and meander over sparse arrangements that come across as lazy. This is most moticeable on <i>\u2018Death Bed\u2019<\/i>\u2019s painfully basic chords.<\/p>\n<p> <!-- more --><\/p>\n<p>When a lone electric guitar is introduced on <i>\u2018Family Tradition\u2019<\/i>, it contributes nothing but a similarly drab riff that sounds like the first idea hastily conceived in a studio. Dullest of all is the string-laden title track, Nielsen\u2019s voice creaky and wavering: <i>&ldquo;How the hell am I supposed to get used to all this death?&rdquo;<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p>The gloomy tone is something of a missed opportunity \u2013 had the EP continued in sunny opener <i>\u2018Jets To Per\u00fa\u2019<\/i>\u2019s vein, it could feasibly have become an attractively conflicting take on grief. Even so, the track\u2019s chorus is again bland and hastily arranged over stock processed beats.<\/p>\n<p><i>\u2018In Your Absence\u2019<\/i> is for fans only, but even the most ardent will find this effort hard to love. A pointless diversion that adds nothing to <b>Senses Fail<\/b>\u2019s legacy as esteemed post-hardcore and emo merchants. It exemplifies the infamous acoustic EP sterotype &#8211; regrettable and forgettable.<\/p>\n<p>1\/5<\/p>\n<p><i>&lsquo;In Your Absence&rsquo;<\/i> EP by <b>Senses Fail<\/b> is released on March 3rd on <b>Pure Noise Records<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Senses Fail<\/b> links: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sensesfail15.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Website<\/a>|<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sensesfail\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a>|<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SensesFail\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a>|<a href=\"https:\/\/sensesfail.bandcamp.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bandcamp<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Words by Peter Stewart (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PeteStew_\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@PeteStew_<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Senses Fail\u2019s last full-length album, 2015\u2019s \u2018Pull The Thorns From Your Heart\u2019 proved to be perhaps being the breaking point of a sound that has become both heavier and weaker over the years. Now the post-hardcore veterans seem to be attempting to atone for their mediocrity by going in the exact opposite direction. There are [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":16156,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,2269],"tags":[2174,15030,66,64],"class_list":["post-2862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-reviews","category-ep-review","tag-in-your-absence-ep","tag-peter-stewart","tag-pure-noise-records","tag-senses-fail"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Review: Senses Fail -\u00a0In Your Absence EP - Already Heard Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Senses Fail\u2019s last full-length album, 2015\u2019s \u2018Pull The Thorns From Your Heart\u2019 proved to be perhaps being the breaking point of a sound that has become\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Review: Senses Fail -\u00a0In Your Absence EP - 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