Balance and Composure – ‘The Things We Think We’re Missing’

By Chris Marshman

Balance and Composure are back. They release their new album ‘The Things We Think We’re Missing’ off the back of an incredibly successful album in ‘Separation’ an album that saw the band reach new heights.

From the very get go the production values in the album are much, much better than those found in ‘Separation’. Everything sounds heavier and, to those sat on the fence, Balance and Composure’s sound is suddenly about to make a lot more sense. Opening track ‘Parachutes’ and the following ‘Lost Your Name’ are an incredible opening duo, these songs are loud and proud of it.

The best thing about Balance and Composure is that in no way do they compromise on the sound that has got them to where they are today, the angst ridden grunge like riffs are here in abundance. All too often you get bands who experiment with their sound and fail badly, Balance and Composure have stuck with what works, they’ve stuck with what they feel most comfortable with and that’s absolutely fine.

The further we get into the album the better it gets. The instrumental ‘Ella’ serves as a nice prelude into the incredible ‘Cut Me Open’ and album enders ‘Keepsake’ and ‘Enemy’ do their job in that the former gives us a brilliant final burst of energy and the latter, while much moodier, leaves the listener wanting more.

Overall, everyone involved in making ‘The Things We Think We’re Missing’ can congratulate themselves on a job very well done. Everything about this record is huge and is not to be missed out on.

CHRIS MARSHMAN

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