Touché Amoré – Parting The Sea Between Brightness And Me

The world did not end Saturday so that means we have more time to rock out to awesome bands. Speaking of awesome bands, Touché Amoré, the hardcore band from Los Angeles comes to mind. The band just released their second full-length album, “Parting the Sea Between Brightness and Me”

If that zombie apocalypse so ever happens, be sure this album is on your music listening device, because this music pumps you up and is perfect for slaying zombies to. If you are new to this band and start listening to this album, one of the first things you may notice how short the songs are. The album has  thirteen songs and finishes at an amazing twenty-one minutes time length. This is part of Touché Amoré’s unique style. Their previous album followed the same format and their fans wont be too angered. It sounds as if the album was recorded live because of the raw sound it has. Which is a good thing because it makes one excited to see this band live knowing that they wont be too different from the recorded sounding. Who likes going to a concert and finding out their favorite band is horrible live? Yeah no one.

The album starts off with the song ~ and starts with clean guitar chords that are rang out making one think this is going to be a calm album. As soon as you get entranced in the beautiful guitar sound, it picks up-tempo and the full band comes in topped with Jeremy Bolm’s amazing angry vocals. This is by far one of the best songs on the album. The lyrics to this song, and every song are very well constructed and are amazing. Another stand out track is The Great Repetition. This is a fun and fast track filled with angst. It also has a very nice clean guitar bridge, which is a good change to listen to. Another track that is a joy to listen to is, Face Ghost. It is the longest track on the album coming in at 2:21 and has lots of different dynamics. It has a clean guitar intro, goes into the usual angry style then back to a slow bridge. This track is basically a roller coaster ride. Sesame is also a good track, which follows Face Ghost. It starts with a bass full of treble and sounds like something different than you have heard in the previous tracks. You will notice at this point that all the tracks kind of flow into one another leaving no stop for a rest, which can be both good and bad.  The biggest stand out track on the album is Condolences. It starts off with what sounds like wind blowing and piano, yes piano. This hardcore band has successfully made a hardcore piano ballad. The whole song is just piano and Bolm yelling his emotions out. This is a love or hate track, nonetheless you have to appreciate the creativity.

Overall this is a great album that is fun to listen to. If you are slaying zombies, pissed off at the world or just to listen to some good natural hardcore music give this album a shot. Final verdict is a 8.8 out of 10.

Stand out tracks: ~, The Great Repetition, Face Ghost, Sesame, Condolences… Hell the album is only twenty minutes long, listen to all of them!

Track List

1. ~ (Tilde)
2. Pathfinder
3. The Great Repetition
4. Art Official
5. Uppers/Downers
6. Crutch
7. Method Act
8. Face Ghost
9. Sesame
10. Wants/Needs
11. Condolences
12. Home Away From Here
13. Amends

James Lanham (Warsaw, Indiana)