On this sophomore album from Glasgow, Scotland’s DEPARTURES have recorded nine new songs of melodic hardcore with screamo added to it. This is the follow-up to their self-titled album from 2011 and it’s their debut release on No Sleep Records.
“Teenage Haze” is a very short, relaxed instrumental which was cool because lead singer/shouter/screamer James McKean gets a break and so do we. It’s not that I didn’t like his vocals; on the contrary, I just think that sometimes the vocals could be mellowed out a bit, and not screamed in every song. A bit more versatility on the vocals would improve the album a bit, but the band plays really well and McKean does bring a lot of passion to the vocals. The song “Small Steps” starts off slow and builds into a nice hard, fast paced song, then fades again, really well done. “21” is intense with strong vocals, tasty guitar riffs, and pounding drums, and “Where The Time Will Go” starts off slow and then accelerates to the speed of light taking you on its trip.
This band has a lot of potential and the album is really well done. This will surprise fans of hardcore, that you can have more relaxed, mellow songs and still come up with an album that shreds.
https://www.facebook.com/departuresuk https://www.facebook.com/nosleeprecords http://nosleeprecords.com/ http://nosleepsampler.com/
Altered Frequencies 