Letting Go
Letting Go gives Earshot a convincing sound before it gives them a convincing identity. The guitars are tense and substantial, the band play closely together, and Will Martin's singing brings plenty of force to the choruses. The debut has enough good material to make those qualities matter. It also stays so close to established alternative-metal approaches that its personality can be difficult to separate from its influences.
Headstrong starts with a churning guitar part and a dark, melodic vocal. It sets the mood effectively, keeping the performance controlled even when the music grows heavier. Get Away makes a stronger immediate impression through its chorus. Martin gives the melody enough range and urgency to carry the song beyond its familiar ingredients.
The vocal is central to the album's appeal. His quieter delivery can leave space around a verse before a much stronger phrase gives the chorus weight. That movement helps the songs hold attention, though the resemblance to Maynard James Keenan is difficult to ignore. Earshot often sound capable without sounding fully independent of the musical ground they are working on.
Wake Up makes some of the changes more effective. Its less straightforward verse gives way to a much heavier chorus, connecting the band's interest in shifting arrangements with a clear hook. Changes of tempo and pauses elsewhere also show a willingness to adjust the basic setup. Those ideas give the music activity, even when they do not produce much surprise.
This World offers a more direct rock approach, giving the sequence a useful variation. Yet the record repeatedly returns to similar patterns of forceful openings, reduced verses and larger choruses. The musicians make those patterns work, but the full album begins to reveal how closely the songs share the same habits.
Letting Go is an engaging but limited introduction. The strong singing, capable playing and several memorable choruses give it an appeal of its own, especially for listeners drawn to this style of heavy rock. The best songs suggest a band with useful ideas. Earshot need to develop a more individual language before those ideas can feel completely theirs.
