Life. Everyone goes through it and a lot of the time people are faced with the same problems. Enter Such Gold’s debut full-length Misadventures, which takes the problems everyone can relate to and turns them into gut-twisting melodic hardcore songs. Known for their catchy EP’s, this time around the band has dropped the sing-a-long choruses and traded them in for a more complex sound with the help of producer Steve Evetts (Lifetime, Saves The Day, Every Time I Die).
This album hits hard right from the get-go as the pounding drum work by Devan Bentley is prominent in opener “Two-Year Plan” and continues to dominate throughout the rest of the record. Singer Ben Kotin doesn’t mind testing his vocal chords a little bit, as the range on Misadventures is much broader than the band’s previous work. Single “Storyteller” is short but fills the void for those fans yearning for a familiar sound. Songs like “Committee Circus,” “Keyhole M.O.,” and “Another Day” focus on the garbage and lies people spew out of their mouths while trying to live life like a popularity contest. The theme of dishonesty carries on into the more pop punk-driven “Survival of the Fondest” as Kotin belts out, “I wonder just how many times I’ve lied / I’d like to know when I die.”
The latter half of the album takes on a harder sound, composed of songs that are sure to get people moving during Such Gold’s intense live show. “Tell Yourself” depicts one of those nights where you’re up late feeling down and questioning everything around you, instantly relatable with lyrics like “The littlest things affect our lives / In ways I can’t understand / I wish that I did.” “Higher Places” and “Understand and Forget” have a distinct hardcore influence, the latter being reminiscent of Broadcasting-era Comeback Kid.
The most diverse tracks on the album come in the last two songs. “Locked Out of the Magic Theater” ranges from screaming to singing and is one the most mature-sounding songs the band has released while still having that catchy hook that gets stuck in your head with its refrain of “Can you meet me in the middle?” Closer “You Are Your Greatest Threat (The Doctor Will Serve You Now)” is an enigma of a song, pacing back and forth between being up in your face to distant-sounding with lyrics that will need some deciphering. The song shows the band thinking outside the box and rounds up the album nicely.
Such Gold aren’t re-inventing the wheel with Misadventures, but instead are reinventing themselves a bit with an expansion in sound and style. The band has had their fair share of misfortune and poor situations in the past, and this shines through in the album’s emotional lyrics. The production of Steve Evetts has definitely given new light to the band’s music, helping them strive away from simplicity. The way the album ends seems like Such Gold has a lot more to tell and no one should shy away for whatever they have to offer in the future.
Rating: 4/5
