Spiral In A Straight Line (Rise Records) is Touché Amoré’s sixth album. They are not only more confident in who they are as a band, but continuing the journey fussy they are not capable of explosive emotional outbursts as heard in the song. This is handled in a more Punk way, with less overt emoting. The more polished production compliments the progression of their creative path, with the guitars being where growth is most evident. On a song like “Hal Ashby” they embrace the late nineties all over again thanks to the jangle of the guitars. This feels the most like what we once called Emo with a punk drive that thankfully owes more to Hot Water Music than Blink-182.

The dynamic songs offer a snapshot of a fully-realized version of the band. Listening to this album with headphones is recommended to hear some of the nuanced touches in production There are tons of great guitar tones captured. “Force of Habit” paints a clearer picture of what this band is known for, spoken-word narrative vocals. The guitar creates a moody ambiance to cushion the blow of the more yelled vocal sections.  

“Mezzanine” is more of an angry clanging. This one leans the band more in the direction of hardcore. The bright organic guitars keep things from being dark, though sullen sonics sometimes haunt the background. Most of the songs are under three minutes with the last song breaking this rule.

“This Routine” is more rock n roll than the previous song. The overall vocal approach to this album is pretty one dimensional which is consistent with who this band is. So if you are a fan of this band it’s something you have learned to love. The band is working together when it comes to this to balance out the sound as a whole and compensate for this. “Finalist” is more punk in its in-your-face drive, Lou Barlow of Sebadoh lends his voice to “Subversion”, it’s enough of a shift to give the needed dynamic colors with the increased focus on melody making it one of the album’s best songs. 

The bass player wins the most improved award on this album, and his talents lift “the Glue”. Julien Baker from Boygenius is on the last song. There is some chaos going on in the song,  Baker’s contribution is more coincidental and does not contribute a great deal to the song, and does not take the band outside their comfort zone or make them in in the direction of indie pop. You might have been expecting her to drop more of a hook. If you are a fan of this band then you already know what you want from this band and they once again deliver some solid songwriting that sounds great, with continued refinement to the presentation of the overall sound, though no one can accuse them of selling out. This is the sound of screamo punks aging gracefully. 

Buy the album here:
https://toucheamore.lnk.to/Spiral

8 / 10
WIL CIFER
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