4/5
"Parting the Sea" trades in the dense, hear-the-room-the-band's-playing-in production of "...To the Beat" for crisper, more trebly production. This change caters to the band's evolving sound. Song after song is carried by the blast-beat ridden pounding of Elliot Babin. And while his drumming is sufficient in each track, I find myself missing the more intricate, calculated fills of Jeremy Zsupnik.
These short-lived blasts feel even more fleeting than the debut. After a fantastic opener "~", you find yourself six songs into the album and it begins to feel a little rushed. They aren't given enough time to breathe before the next song steals the impact of the last. The listener is given relief in the reverby moaning guitar intro of "Face Ghost" but the album is lacking in these moments. This bleeding of tracks is one of the two flaws holding this album back from its potential.
The other is in this album's lyrics. A handful of tracks fell embarrassingly short of my high expectations. Especially in passages like, "it loses its feel of mystery and any hope that it can give me reason not to just stop screaming out loud."
Nonetheless, "Parting the Sea" is saved by a handful of expertly assembled songs. Namely "~", "Art Official", "Uppers/Downers", and "Home Away From Here". Impressively dynamic, shifting hybrids of the post-hardcore/screamo combination the band chooses to incorporate. It's inspiring that they didn't just go through motions of "...To the Beat" which they could have very well done and gotten away with.
It's excited to think of what we have coming our way from Touche Amore.
