Grayscale - The Hart 1-31-25

Out tomorrow, didn't see an album thread. Outside of summer clothes, all these songs have grown on me quite a bit.

 

Kept Me Alive and Not Afraid to Die are top tier Grayscale, the others not so much. The production on these songs isn’t super great. The band lost me with Umbra, but I’ll check this out.

 

This album is great.

 

Really enjoying this one

 

"Kept Me Alive" is a great start.

 

"Summer Clothes" is so bland.

 

"Some Kind of Magic" is much better.

 

"Dance With Your Ghost" is another great one.

 

dammit i misread this as greyhaven and got super pumped lmao

 

the trio of ballads in the back half really kills the momentum.

 

"Not Afraid to Die" is still great and sadly it seems like it's easily the best on here.

Overall I like the album but it feels like a solid step down from the last two.

 

Didn't really enjoy this one, sadly. This band now kind of reminds me of Stand Atlantic, in that they throw in way too many over the top flourishes in every single song

 

I think that's one of the things that's still good about both bands, it helps keep some of the blander songs more interesting. It's the actual song writing that's dipped a bit.

 

Unsure what the consensus is but I’m very into this so far. Almost feels a little of the promise of early Transit, but more leaning into some big choruses. Super enjoyable.

“Summer Clothes” is super fun. “Mum II” is awesome. This will sit in rotation a while I bet.

 

I like Dance With Your Ghost but find the rest of this pretty boring. Why are there so many slow songs? Big step down from Umbra

 

Not afraid to die is the best song. It was the first single released. Also doesn’t feel like a closer? Gonna see them on the mayday tour. Their catalog is good enough with the new songs sprinkled in. Should be a good time.

 

When I saw the tracklist I felt the same about NATD as the closer, especially because it has been out for so long. But hearing it in the context of the album, especially with the new recording, it works perfectly for me. It really sums up the themes of the album, and it feels like a victory lap of sorts.

unrelated, the cover art is gorgeous and this is one of those albums that “sounds” like the artwork looks. If that makes sense. I love albums like that.

I totally see the vision for this album and I get it. I love it. I understand how it might not be for everyone though. This is tied for their best with Nella Vita for me.

 

Not afraid is one of my least favorite on here lol mum is beautiful though

 

I like Ghost quite a bit but man this feels like a letdown after Umbra and a huge letdown two albums after Nella Vita.

 

Nothing touches Nella Vita, but I really enjoy these songs. Feels on par with Umbra. Solid indie pop rock. Highlights for me are Kept Me Alive, Mum II, Not Afraid to Die, Through the Landslide, and Dance with your Ghost.

 

my issue with this album is that it sounds like 12 songs that weren't recorded in the same session thrown onto an album.

i like the songs you mentioned, but they've been out in the world awhileeee now and so have some others. it just doesn't feel like this band treats this like a full time job.

 

I have a hard time holding any small indie band to the "treats this like a full time job" standard, because ... that seems impossible. But, I don't really get that vibe at all from this album. It works cohesively for me. I also don't really listen to pre-release singles for this very reason that I wanna hear albums as a whole and not have heard one song a bunch more than another.

A shame more people aren't digging it IMO, I already like it more than Umbra.

 

Really love the big anthems on this record. It's definitely going to be a great spring/summer album.

 

not listening to the pre-release singles may have saved me from this. i can agree to that!

but 'Not Afraid To Die' was released in September of 2023. that's a long time to not listen to a song, haha.

i've liked their whole discography. this is still a good showing of songs. i think i just hold them to a high standard.

 

I think when they announced a third promo single, I nuked the first two from my library that way I could come into this album listening to all of the songs in one go, rather than associating some of the singles from years prior vs new songs. Doing this has made me appreciate the collection as a whole much more.