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Two years since their last album release, Lesser Men which put their name on the map with an aggressive tour to promote the album, Make It Right is an upcoming release which will sure to have you on the edge of your seat until September 18th. Since growing up, their latest album is said to showcase a darker and more pragmatic Abel however with an indie-rock twist, to those who have been a fan since their arrival, will notice the difference. Singer Kevin Kneifel explains “It’s about coming to terms with failures and unfulfilled expectations,” which will explain the slight change in direction for the band.
Their new album is said to be along the lines of Brand New, Thrice and As Cities Burn. Lets see what the fuss is about.
For those of you who have previously read a review of mine will know I hate repetition and lack of variation. There is nothing worse than a band who doesn’t utilise their talents to try new things within song differentiation. Luckily I’m not talking about Abel here, in fact, far from it. I’ll Be Waiting is a great song to open the album with, a song which most bands should have something similar to when opening an album. An epic display of a build up to a powerful chorus which takes charge of the song. It holds many musically talented riffs and overlaying notes which a large variation between the clean and the heavy. Every album opening song should be sharp, variated to showcase the bands talents and punchy, since thats the song the majority of people will first listen to. It’s also nice to hear the singer can write soft melodic lyrics during the verses while still knowing when to pause to hold impact for the instruments. It seems the band knows how to work well together to make something enjoyable to listen to the entire way through the song. Produced by Matt Malpass who has previously produced Manchester Orchestra, Lydia and Copeland, listening to the first song certainly filled my expectations. Hopefully the other 9 tracks will follow suit.
Skipping to track 3, An Ultimatum shows a slightly different style to I’ll Be Waiting. Not that much to say ‘oh, thats surely not Abel‘, but enough to say that it doesn’t hold the dark and pragmatic themes as described. A more rock infused song, An Ultimatum holds lyrics which really cut to the core. To a degree this song must have been created around the lyrics however it still holds the power to play host to enough solo’s overlapping clean chords to embark on that rock essence. The way the vocals develop from slight distorted at the start, to soft verse, to full blown ‘lets break the walls down’ chorus is an excellent way to develop and bring about a solo. This song could even be the album opening, which I would be in favour of since I prefer its style over I’ll Be Waiting. The chorus lyrics, ‘Don’t think I won’t change, I won’t be everything you need me to be’ certainly develops on the song name about the hardness of what relationships are. Typical content, but created in a different way than those overly ambitious punk-pop songs, which works to my delight.
To see what more the album has to offer, lets skip again to track 9, Your Heart, Your Soul. Definitely a quieter, softer, slower song, well the beginning is anyway. This song is odd to be frank. A mishmash of various styles where the song includes that soft introduction, adventurous delayed lead guitar throughout, gang vocals and a small, heavy paced guitar after the introduction has finished. A very well put together song which would extremely well acoustically throughout, however the rest of the song is on epic proportion. A real deep song and sound which no doubt would blow you away live. It seems that a lot of the song itself is a build up. At each stage the rhythm gets stronger, the vocals get more powerful where at no time there is anything of waste. A song which could be put with a large array of visuals. So far, so good, Abel.
Track 10, the final view of this album escapade, Comfort And Truth. Fooled by the introduction of the last song, this one is more true to the softer style. Extremely soft vocals with the plucking of acoustic chords gives me that tingly feeling. Not often do I honestly enjoy listening to soft songs as I find them rather boring and not to my liking, however there are many times within this song where Abel as a band add different increments of difference, whereby it might be slight change in guitar, or the pause of lyrics and the introduction of group soft ‘whoa’s’. Alongside this the eventual buildup introduces an increase of drum tempo and loudness of group vocals to then breakdown to the level that was before the buildup. A nice, easily listening song with a edge of raw power which was exactly their intension when creating this album. Good on you lads!
Overall, I have to say this is a pretty good album. Probably underselling it by only talking about 4/10 tracks and possibly a poor choice of words at some points, however if this article lights up your curiosity have a listen on Youtube or get the album when it comes out. Worth every penny.
Album Release September 18th.
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