The Greatest of All Lost Arts
The Greatest of All Lost Arts makes its strongest impression through the playing. Lower Definition combine melodic singing, sudden screams and detailed guitar work with a rhythm section that keeps the songs active. The ingredients are familiar, but the musicians often put them together convincingly. Their best passages have movement and atmosphere as well as weight.
To Satellite introduces that range with a softer opening before the full band arrives. The guitars can become heavy without reducing everything to the same rhythmic figure, with lead parts continuing to move above the lower sound. The Ocean, The Beast! follows with another forceful arrangement, using the drums and guitars to create a busy, energetic setting.
Miami Nights offers a more relaxed contrast. Its softer, lightly jazzy guitar sound puts greater emphasis on the singing, giving the record a different pace. The heavier interruption is less natural, though, and suggests a familiar device being added to a song that already has enough character without it.
The Choreographer brings the atmosphere and instrumental detail together more smoothly. The music remains active while leaving room around the voice, and the acoustic and clean electric guitars add a softer contrast near the end. It is a useful example of the band finding interest through the relationship between parts rather than sheer force.
Versus Versace gives the louder approach a stronger melodic payoff. The singing provides a clear hook inside the changes between cleaner and heavier playing. Elsewhere, the guitars and drums can make an arrangement engaging even when the main vocal line is less distinctive.
The difficulty is maintaining that interest across the entire sequence. Similar song shapes begin to repeat, while the drawn-out delivery can make some melodies tiring. The band have the ability to create complex passages, but those details do not always give each track a separate identity. More variety in the writing would make the performances count for more.
There is still plenty to enjoy in the combination of atmosphere, energy and careful guitar work. The Greatest of All Lost Arts is a capable, occasionally exciting post-hardcore album that stops short of becoming as distinctive as its strongest individual moments suggest.
