Trends come and go on a regular basis in the music industry, and the marriage of clean vocals with abrasive screaming is nothing new. However, whereas previously the sung parts would often be handled in an emotionally honest and not always note perfect style, there seems to be a growing desire to go for RnB/pop levels of smoothness in the delivery of such vocals. With the release of ‘The Love/The Lust’, Violet stake their claim for a share of that increasingly popular market.
‘Expectations. Reality.’ gives a good idea of what to expect. It builds well from an atmospheric intro and charges through the standard metalcore passages competently enough but the interplay between the two vocal styles jars towards the end, halting the momentum that Violet were quickly beginning to build.
On ‘Car Rides And The Passenger Side’ the stylised and smooth vocals are immediately put to use. Unfortunately, it becomes clear that the strained and drawn out pronunciations of various lyrics do little other than show up the limitations of such a vocal style. The often breathy delivery throughout ‘The Love/The Lust’ is meant to convey range and emotion, but here, as elsewhere it largely falls flat sounding unnatural and forced. ‘Her’ for example, follows the same structural patterns and once again overemphasises not only the impact of the clean vocals, but their quality too, as they fall completely wide of the mark.
Fortunately, ‘Girls Like You’ goes some way to rescuing the album. It makes much better use of the sense of melody that Violet are trying hard to achieve, and feels far more confident. ‘Daydreamer’, with its piano led intro and more traditional metal feel also helps raise the quality of the record. Album closer ‘Estel’ meanwhile is one of the better songs on the album and shows that Violet do have their strengths, demonstrating brilliantly that it is the busier and more ambitious songs that sound best.
Ultimately, your opinion of ‘The Love/The Lust’ will rest on your taste for and tolerance of RnB-esque smoothly delivered vocals. Whilst they work in places, and provide contrast and texture to the record, overall they are weak. It doesn’t help that the focus on vocals leaves the music sometimes feeling like little more than an afterthought. It’s a shame as the more imaginative and varied the songs are, the more interesting and listenable ‘The Love/The Lust’ becomes. Unfortunately all things considered, it is a definite case of style over substance.
CHRIS HILSON