The remaining space is filled up by Bolm's memories, expressed invariably with blunt, self-scrutinizing detail. His clean vocals on “Water Damage” and “Palm Dreams” are unlikely to earn him a spot on *The Voice, *but it’s to the band’s benefit: There’s still plenty of room for Stevens and Steinhart to churn out the heavy riffs. Roughly one-third of the album’s tracks bear his abyssal murmur, a hoarse monotone landing somewhere between Kurt Cobain and Gregorian monk. Whereas past albums have traditionally tasked guitarists Clayton Stevens and Nick Steinhart with all of the heavy lifting, wedding every syllable that falls forth from their leader’s mouth to a ragged note, *Stage Four *sees Bolm taking a stronger melodic initiative. Instead, its vivid imagery, anthemic arrangements, and unsuspecting listenability position it as hardcore’s Carrie & Lowell: an autobiographical tragedy that soars in spite of an overwhelming urge to succumb. *Stage Four *definitely doesn’t have that problem. It’s difficult to render those artifacts as universal truths, especially to those who have been lucky (or young) enough to have avoided the experience. Grief gathers its strength from fine details: childhood memories, sun-faded postcards, the box of Cheez-Its that never got thrown away. Or you can write an album about it, which brings us to Stage Four, Touché Amoré’s best album. When one of your parents dies, you never really recover all you can do is sift through the memories and hold tight to the ones that make you smile. Understandably, the loss-and the fact that he couldn’t be by Sandy’s bedside when she passed away-tore him to shreds. On Halloween 2014, in a cramped concert hall in Gainesville, Florida where Touché Amoré were performing as part of annual punk blowout The Fest, Bolm received word from his family back in California that his mother Sandy had died following a long battle with cancer. “It’s not for nothing, but I’ve seen a transformation,” he reported on “Social Caterpillar,” “Like I consider my happiness for the first time in ages.”Īnd then it all fell apart. Two years later, on 2013’s ambitious Is Survived By, he appeared on the precipice of climbing out of that pit of doubt. Their first two albums, 2009’s *…To The Beat Of A Dead Horse *and 2011’s Parting the Sea Between Brightness and Me, showed a man at war with himself, struggling to navigate relationships personal and artistic amid anxiety's unyielding fog. Touché’s journey is Bolm’s journey, and the band’s output thus far has belied the stereotypical arc where the frontman battles then conquers his demons. Bolm’s hyper-confessional lyrics are a beacon of hope to anyone plagued by anxiety, depression, toxic relationships, and general self-doubt.
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