New Jersey’s Senses Fail return with Renacer – to revive, or be reborn, in Spanish – and the album is anything but subtle about just where the title has come from. Following some line-up changes after 2010’s The Fire, the band has abandoned any pretence of emo which came before, transforming into an unrecognisable post-hardcore screamo outfit of dropped guitar tunings and growled vocals. More surprising than the total reconfiguration is how well they follow through on the reinvention – Renacer is a totally solid, if slightly unremarkable hardcore album.
Tere’s a little As I Lay Dying here, some Asking Alexandra there – and it works. Lead singer Buddy Nielsen, one of just two remaining founding members, has done his homework and both growls and pines with purpose; drummer Dan Trapp has segued from the less demanding emo-punk of old to rapid-fire snares and double bass kicks gloriously, and the band function well together as guitars surge and soar, giving way to earth-rumbling breakdowns and mosh-friendly riffing.
Post-intro lead track Holy Mountain is a furious climb along a guitar neck fused with real drive, powered by melodic choruses as competently formed as those of their long-settled stablemates. Mi Amor, largely performed in Spanish, comes off as a little tacky, but the chorus – “You are the ocean/and you are the moon…I’ll follow you until the waves come through” – hits just the right mellow note and carries the song between the charging percussion of the verses. The less said about The Path decaying broodiness and the more I encourage you to simply listen to it, the better.
There are occasional nods to the ways of old. Glass opens with a strained guitar riff and clean vocals packed with good old dedications of love. The old ways play off against the new ones in the lead-up to each chorus, clean vocals and fuzzy notes duelling against screams and chugging chords – it’s almost a story in itself, the transition from one band to an almost entirely fresh one. It’s one of the mellower tracks, but one of the best, boldly expressing the band’s intent of moving on towards bold new pastures.
That’s not to say Renacer is a total abandoning of all that has gone before. Snake Bite is a furious rant of forlorn love – “I’ll never stop yearning until my heart quits,” Nielsen growls in the mid-section – which falls back on uncomplicated punk beats and chords. There’s an endearing tug of war between old and new which lends the album a feeling of freshness, tying experience with fresh-facedness in an interesting combination.
At times, the inexperience shows and knocks the album for two, but that’s not to say Senses Fail have done a bad job. Renacer is a hugely ambitious project for a band usually aiming for a much softer sound and that it sounds as great as it does could be considered equal parts miracle and hard work. Taking a risk as adventurous as this will surely divide opinion but, from a purely critical point of view, the New Jersey boys have done a staggering job of creating a genuinely excellent hardcore album. Lend it your ears.
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