With Transient, Battleghost have released a gem of an EP filled with catchy vocal hooks, crisp production, powerful walls of instrumental sound, and some real nice performances allowing every aspect of this record to stand out on its own as something noteworthy.
Like most records listened to for the first time, each song has a very limited amount of play time to catch the interest of the listener before the “next” button is hit. Battleghost seems to understand this concept as all of their songs caught my interest nearly immediately.
The EP starts with a short song titled “Mumbles”, which is an example of a song that seems to sum up an entire album. Every part of the song from the single vocal line, to the chords, rhythm, and drumming gives the feeling of being wistful and nostalgic, which I find very apt for this record.
“Stateless” and “Contentions” are the next two songs on the record. Both are filled with riffs reminiscent of The Story So Far and With The Punches. Though both songs have similar structures and songwriting aspects, they give off completely different feelings, mainly because of some strong lyrical content and some well crafted bridge sections.
The song “Locust Grove” comes next, breaking the pattern for the EP as it’s the fastest song on the record as well as the only song with a title longer than a single word. The double time that follows the intro of the song is genuinely nice to hear, as it gives the first real break from similar tempos felt through the first few songs. This particular song ends in a very solid build up finally climaxing with a scream powerful enough to hit repeat immediately. “Locust Grove” is another song on the EP that you can truly feel the energy and emotion that the song contains, which certainly helps the listener relate more and keep coming back to the songs.
Lastly, the EP ends on a high note with the song “Cogbill” that contains many well-done clichés in the pop punk genre such as the bass and vocals verse and a half time chorus and bridge. It is a great ending to the EP that feels as if it brings everything full circle.
Battleghost’s Transient EP is a very well done group of songs, but what it has going for it the most is its length. The EP itself is only about 15 minutes long, but by the end, I wasn’t yearning for more or less. Each song is very similar in tone and style as if the band wrote one killer song and decided to do the same thing 3 more times. As an EP, this works alright, but a full-length record would have gotten old after a while and interest would have been lost. I am looking forward to what Battleghost does next and I hope they take this successful album and build off its successes while experimenting with other aspects of their songs.
Tracklist:
1. Mumbles
2. Stateless
3. Contentions
4. Locust Grove
5. Cogbill
RIYL: With The Punches, The Story So Far, Crucial Dudes
Rating:
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