{"id":78969,"date":"2019-05-13T13:00:56","date_gmt":"2019-05-13T12:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/?p=78969"},"modified":"2023-04-07T14:19:56","modified_gmt":"2023-04-07T13:19:56","slug":"review-august-spies-corruption-of-the-human-heart-ep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-august-spies-corruption-of-the-human-heart-ep\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: August Spies &#8211; Corruption Of The Human Heart EP"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-78980\" src=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/August-Spies-Corruption-of-the-human-heart-300x300.jpeg\" alt=\"August-Spies Corruption of the human heart\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/August-Spies-Corruption-of-the-human-heart-300x300.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/August-Spies-Corruption-of-the-human-heart-150x150.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/August-Spies-Corruption-of-the-human-heart-465x465.jpeg 465w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/August-Spies-Corruption-of-the-human-heart.jpeg 500w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/August-Spies-Corruption-of-the-human-heart-100x100.jpeg 100w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>It\u2019s encouraging to see the increased interest in Hell Is For Heroes, particularly when they spent most of the 2000s seemingly overshadowed by Hundred Reasons\u2019 bigger presence in UK post-hardcore. More than that though, that goodwill has seemingly spilt over onto vocalist Justin Schlosberg\u2019s solo project <b>August Spies<\/b>, pivoting in a direction heavily inspired by lush, layered electronica and indie-rock.<\/p>\n<p>Naturally, the final product is a very different beast than Hell Is For Heroes, but Schlosberg can actually pull it off rather well, and for a debut EP, <i>\u2019Corruption Of The Human Heart\u2019<\/i> has quite a lot to dig into. For one, the transition to this slower, more tentative brand of music has come surprisingly easily, founded on beds of pianos and strings that build in a suitably methodical way. Thrills are rather minimal overall, but the swirling, warping knock of <i>\u2019This Is How It Ends\u2019<\/i> and the icy, poised piano of <i>\u2019You Killed My Love\u2019<\/i> show a much greater focus on robust composition that\u2019s much more interesting.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"This is how it ends\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xy6NuLypGDY?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1&#038;origin=https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Granted, the slow burn won\u2019t be for everyone, and Schlosberg\u2019s broader, less nuanced vocals can occasionally feel a bit too stark amidst material this focused mood and atmosphere. If anything, it can feel reminiscent of an artist like Nick Cave as a creeping, sonorous presence among a canvas that\u2019s a lot more delicate. Of course, a direct comparison might be pushing it but <i>\u2019Corruption Of The Human Heart\u2019<\/i> does give off that vibe, and moving closer to that territory wouldn\u2019t be out of the question with a bit more refinement.<\/p>\n<p>Right now though, it\u2019s easy to tell that <b>August Spies<\/b> is a side-project, particularly in its off-kilter nature that\u2019s playing to distinctly personal interests for Schlosberg. But even so, <i>\u2019Corruption Of The Human Heart\u2019<\/i> is a consistently interesting and thought-provoking listen that\u2019s definitely left room to grow. Regardless of how much Schlosberg feels fit to release under this moniker, to see what happens next could be potentially fascinating.<\/p>\n<p>3.5\/5<\/p>\n<p><i>&#8216;Corruption Of The Human Heart&#8217;<\/i> by <b>August Spies<\/b> is out now.<\/p>\n<p><b>August Spies<\/b> links: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.augustspies.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Website<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AugustSpiesMusic\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SpiesAugust\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Words by Luke Nuttall (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nuttall_luke\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@nuttall_luke<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;\u2019Corruption Of The Human Heart\u2019 is a consistently interesting and thought-provoking listen&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":78980,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,2269],"tags":[5879,16954,16968,15029],"class_list":["post-78969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-reviews","category-ep-review","tag-album-reviews","tag-august-spies","tag-corruption-of-the-human-heart","tag-luke-nuttall"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Review: August Spies - Corruption Of The Human Heart EP - Already Heard Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"&quot;\u2019Corruption Of The Human Heart\u2019 is a consistently interesting and thought-provoking listen&quot;\" \/>\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: August Spies - Corruption Of The Human Heart EP - Already Heard Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&quot;\u2019Corruption Of The Human Heart\u2019 is a consistently interesting and thought-provoking listen&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-august-spies-corruption-of-the-human-heart-ep\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Already Heard Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-05-13T12:00:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-04-07T13:19:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/August-Spies-Corruption-of-the-human-heart.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Luke Nuttall\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@alreadyhearduk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@alreadyhearduk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Luke Nuttall\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Review: August Spies - Corruption Of The Human Heart EP - Already Heard Staging","description":"\"\u2019Corruption Of The Human Heart\u2019 is a consistently interesting and thought-provoking listen\"","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Review: August Spies - Corruption Of The Human Heart EP - Already Heard Staging","og_description":"\"\u2019Corruption Of The Human Heart\u2019 is a consistently interesting and thought-provoking listen\"","og_url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-august-spies-corruption-of-the-human-heart-ep\/","og_site_name":"Already Heard Staging","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/","article_published_time":"2019-05-13T12:00:56+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-04-07T13:19:56+00:00","og_image":[{"width":500,"height":500,"url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/August-Spies-Corruption-of-the-human-heart.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Luke Nuttall","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@alreadyhearduk","twitter_site":"@alreadyhearduk","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Luke Nuttall","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-august-spies-corruption-of-the-human-heart-ep\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-august-spies-corruption-of-the-human-heart-ep\/"},"author":{"name":"Luke Nuttall","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/355c8ef8136051dd158a626d1b0eaf08"},"headline":"Review: August Spies &#8211; Corruption Of The Human Heart EP","datePublished":"2019-05-13T12:00:56+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-07T13:19:56+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-august-spies-corruption-of-the-human-heart-ep\/"},"wordCount":374,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-august-spies-corruption-of-the-human-heart-ep\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/August-Spies-Corruption-of-the-human-heart.jpeg","keywords":["Album Reviews","August Spies","Corruption Of The Human Heart","Luke Nuttall"],"articleSection":["Album Reviews","EP Reviews"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-august-spies-corruption-of-the-human-heart-ep\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-august-spies-corruption-of-the-human-heart-ep\/","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-august-spies-corruption-of-the-human-heart-ep\/","name":"Review: August Spies - Corruption Of The Human Heart EP - Already Heard Staging","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-august-spies-corruption-of-the-human-heart-ep\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-august-spies-corruption-of-the-human-heart-ep\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/August-Spies-Corruption-of-the-human-heart.jpeg","datePublished":"2019-05-13T12:00:56+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-07T13:19:56+00:00","description":"\"\u2019Corruption Of The Human Heart\u2019 is a consistently interesting and thought-provoking listen\"","inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-august-spies-corruption-of-the-human-heart-ep\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-august-spies-corruption-of-the-human-heart-ep\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/August-Spies-Corruption-of-the-human-heart.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/August-Spies-Corruption-of-the-human-heart.jpeg","width":500,"height":500,"caption":"August-Spies Corruption of the human heart"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#website","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/","name":"Already Heard Staging","description":"Covering the best in alternative music as best as we can","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization","name":"Already Heard","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/AH-relaunch-logo-white-bg.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/AH-relaunch-logo-white-bg.jpg","width":500,"height":500,"caption":"Already Heard"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/","https:\/\/x.com\/alreadyhearduk","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/alreadyheard\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/already-heard\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/AlreadyHeardMusic","https:\/\/tiktok.com\/@alreadyhearduk","https:\/\/www.threads.net\/@alreadyheard"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/355c8ef8136051dd158a626d1b0eaf08","name":"Luke Nuttall","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e1e96a8963ae771ced274c7b1fb9d0f10c4c8cc7322763e02b13910b93790807?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e1e96a8963ae771ced274c7b1fb9d0f10c4c8cc7322763e02b13910b93790807?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e1e96a8963ae771ced274c7b1fb9d0f10c4c8cc7322763e02b13910b93790807?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Luke Nuttall"},"description":"Based in Liverpool, Luke has been writing for Already Heard since 2015, as well as founding and editing his own website The Soundboard around the same time.","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/author\/lukenuttall\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78969"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78969\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79063,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78969\/revisions\/79063"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}