ep review
Adventures/Run Forever Split EP Review
Coming January 28th, the bands Adventures and Run Forever will be releasing their Split EP. As the name suggests, the bands will actually be sharing space on the album, which features two songs by each group. I was actually surprised by the bands’ decision to split space on the EP, but it makes sense. While neither group gets to put as much of their own music onto the album as a solo work would permit, this gave the bands a chance to showcase themselves to one another’s fans and give the audience a glimpse of the rest of both groups’ material. Seeing as two bands worked on the album, I’ll be reviewing it as if it were a pair of two-song EP’s.
The first half of the album is taken up by Adventures, a five-piece indie-rock act from Pittsburgh, PA. The band’s heavy guitars and drums punch their way through headphones and speakers on the opening track Call Me at Night, before simmering into a straightforward alt-pop tune with a dash of lighter guitar work sprinkled on top. The song has a few moments where it tantalizes with even stronger guitars accompanied by some emotional screams, before settling back into the main groove. The next track, Thin, slowly chugs along, keeping the heavy low end that Call Me at Night started. The song takes a few breaks to showcase some cool grooves from the drummer, before slowly grinding to a halt.
For the Adventures portion of the album, I was a little thrown off by how quiet the singers were in the mix. There were chunks of the tracks where I actually had to make a conscious effort to try and hear the vocals over the instruments. Despite that, the songs had a nice garage band feel to them, and I’ll definitely be looking more into the group. I can practically feel their potential to grow into something massive.
The second half of the album is taken up by Run Forever, an alt-rock group from small town Pennsylvania. The Opening track, Headlights, creeps in softly and easily, before building into a huge intro with soaring lead guitar, and gritty low end. The rest of the song maintains that energy, and uses it to great effect, before ending with a bang that leads straight into the last song, Lost the Feeling. This track has more of a punk-y feel to it, and maintains a constant head-nodding energy.
I was immediately pleased by the sound levels on Run Forever’s portion of the Split EP. It seemed to fit the band’s style quite well, with loud drums and crunchy guitars. The singer also fit very nicely into the mix. I still feel that the band has a ton of room to grow, but I like what they’ve put out so far.
As a whole, I think the Split EP has done a great job of showcasing the growing musical talent in Pennsylvania’s indie scene. I’ll definitely be looking for the names Adventures and Run Forever on rosters at local venues. It’s bound to be an awesome show.
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