A Loss For Words - These Past Five Years EP
Since I live in New Hampshire, I’ve had my fair share of post-hardcore and metalcore bands come my way with sounds that vary but seem to have that same heavy element with breakdowns in the end. A good, catchy, pop-punk band is really hard to find in these parts, and that is why A Loss For Words caught me so off-guard. Within hours of me listening to These Past Five Years, I had A Theme For Your Ego stuck in my head beyond belief. A day later, the first few songs were engraved in my brain. Writing now, I can successfully say that I’ve been transformed into a huge fan of A Loss For Words.
The EP opens up with just some static and changing of channels on the radio. It quickly goes into A Theme For Your Ego, what I feel is the true gem of the album. A blast of voluptuous rhythms come crashing through the speakers as the track opens, leading into some of the first vocals. Reminiscent of Rufio and Over It, the vocals are pleasant to listen to and damn catchy as well, a perfect blend of melody and tone to give the overall feel of the tracks that extra push. Bullets Leave Holes is another prime example of how vocals really complete A Loss For Words’ sound, and yet it shows that every single element of the band is solid. Everything seems to be recorded just to that exact tone that is comforting to listen to.
A slower paced track, Hot Hands In A Dice Game has some of the more catchy verses of the album. A small solo in the middle of the track breathes some relieve that the band can really pull off some of the essentials of the pop-punk sound while incorporating a much more important rock influence to give it the quintessential elements that keep listeners hooked. Although the vocals fit the sound of the album very well, it begins to be evident during Death Or Glory that the same tone throughout the whole CD begins to mesh together the vocals and doesn’t distinguish the songs apart as much as the back-up screams and yells seem to do. Little hooks such as Shoot For Seven’s “It’s just a matter of time” intro set apart the songs that really make an impact on the album, while the others seem to be certainly listen-worthy but not as repeat-worthy.
Towards the ending of Shoot For Seven, the band shows a lot more of a screaming back-up vocal involvement, sounding a bit like Dead Poetic at parts. The mix of melodic vocals and back-ups like that really vitalize the song and bring more energy to it, something that the EP seems to be a little strained of in the second half. The CD closes with a strong track called Kill With Style, as well as an acoustic track that is hidden. The hidden song is actually one of my favorite tracks from the band, and it would be nice to see maybe some of that incorporated into a future album as well.
Massachusetts certainly has a strong pop-punk band here in A Loss For Words with a strong start and a powerful EP. It does have some dragging moments with the same sort of repeated sound, but stand-out tracks really drive the album to replayability.
TRACK LIST
01. Introduction
02. A Theme For Your Ego
03. Bullets Leave Holes
04. Hot Hand In A Dice Game
05. Death Or Glory
06. Shoot For Seven
07. Kill With Style