The Color Morale

Know Hope

Written by: MN on 16/04/2013 10:41:42

Hailing from a smaller city with one of the coolest names I have yet witnessed: Rockford, Illinois, The Color Morale are a post-hardcore sextet with a promising energy. The band formed back in 2005, their major breakthrough coming through signing with Rise Records, and subsequently releasing their respected debut "We All Have Demons". With their third release, "Know Hope", The Color Morale take a similar approach to their songwriting and instrumentation, yet one of the defining differences, for the better, is that the vocals of Garett Rapp have changed. He still maintains an impressive death growl, and crystal clean vocals, but he has added a husky and rather raspy vocal reminiscent of some earlier 2000's rap metal. At first I was concerned, but the more spins I gave the record, the more I liked the newer, more dynamic and varied vocals.

The album opens with a storm. ”Born Victims” introduces the signature sound compiled of punchy yet almost groovy guitar powerchords. Following the opener, ”Smoke and Mirrors” takes the pace of a hardcore song, which perfectly fits Garett Rapps new vocal style. The chorus in ”Smoke and Mirrors” is one of the most memorable yet. The interplay between the drums and guitars is as tight as Bruce Lees clenched fists, which can especially be witnessed on tracks such as ”Living Breathing Something” and one of the strongest tracks on the record ”Saviorself”, which ends in a beautifully athmospheric ending, letting a guitar solo spread its wings. Their well-chosen first single ”Learned Behavior” is a good introduction to the newer and more refined The Color Morale. As a personal favourite, ”Strange Comfort” is a brilliant track that really proves the melodious edge that The Color Morale should continue to embrace. The album ends with the rather punk-like song that again brings all the best elements of The Color Morale together.

As many bands become labelled according to lifestyle, especially in the hardcore/metalcore scene, The Color Morale have been described as Christan Post-hardcore. This band, however, shuns the label for some very justifiable reasons. The band believes that a Christian Band is more related to sales and promotion than actual religion/belief. The Color Morale are a band easily comparable with other artist signed to the Rise Records label, and thus getting boxed in the subgenre ”risecore”. It's not especially different from a massive array of other bands doing similar things, but they are an honest and hardworking group of musicians. These Rockford Rockers know how to rock your socks off with intensity and well-written lyricism.

Download: Saviorself, Born Victim, Stange Comfort
For The Fans Of: We are Defiance, Ten After Two, Mutiny Within
Listen: facebook.com

Release Date 26.03.2013
Rise Records

Related Items | How we score?
Comments
comments powered by Disqus

Legal

© Copyright MMXXIV Rockfreaks.net.