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Out of curiosity, I decided to check ¡FR!'s sophomore record after having positive reactions to their debut. Maybe I got my hopes up too high, or they decided to miss more than they hit with this record. They decided to emphasize their post-hardcore influences and gain a math rocky attitude, whilst making their dance-punk/PPR influences less obvious. Which is real unfortunate, because that was the best part about the debut! They were at their best when they were full of energy, and this change in direction and energy is what makes them less unique.
You can still hear brief moments where they capture the energy from their debut on 'Don't Reinvent What You Don't Understand' and 'We Are Grey Matter', but these bursts of energy don't last long, because the rest is less energetic, feels uninspired, and even somewhat generic. They do improve in a few areas though, Lyrically, they cut out some of the excess, and you can understand Tom's manic vocals just a tad easier. But these improvements fail to outweigh their issues. The mix on their debut wasn't all that spectacular. They're noisier on this album, and the noisier elements doesn't help the mix on this record. It sounds the same, if not worse than the debut's mix.
The biggest issue I have with this record is the tracks have a strong tendency to drag. The tracks that are the shortest to me are the most redeeming from the album, while the ones that are the longest are the least redeeming. They could've cut a minute or two off tracks like 'Spring Is A Condition' and 'Some Buildings'. It seems like if there were demos of these tracks, they could've been really short, but the band thought they were too short, so they decided to extend them to the point where it becomes draining. Especially that closer, they close off the album with an unnecessarily long track again... As with all of these long tracks, they had some good ideas. The closer has this slow instrumental build-up, and the anthemic choruses are very solid, but it ends up being stretched out longer than it should.
If they had executed all of their ideas better, cut the fat off some tracks, and stuck with the formula used on 'Don't Reinvent What You Don't Understand' and 'We Are Grey Matter', my thoughts about this record would've been more positive. I may revisit this record to give it a relisten, but I think I'll be spending more of my time with their debut.
