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Finch - Back To Oblivion

It has been a while since Southern California based band Finch released some new material; in fact Back to Oblivion is the band's first full length album in over nine years. The band reunited back in 2012 to celebrate the tenth anniversary of What It Is To Burn and played a selective few shows across the country and were then inspire to record a new record.

After nearly a decade long hiatus from releasing new material, Finch kick start this album with the Back to Oblivion title track. With the repetitive titled chorus catching your ear, things started off quite pleasantly and on a high note. Anywhere But Here follows on with some rollercoaster rhythms and sits well with tracks such as Picasso Trigger where choruses are more elevated in sound than verses and guitars pierce through the melodies as well as Us vs. Them. With the verses of The Great Divide, the lack of music and more focus on vocals aid them in standing out that little bit more and when accompanied by music they give much more of a punch.

Further From the Few and Two Guns To the Temple are pretty tough cookies. There are some rougher tones to both the music and the vocals supplied by singer Nate Barcalow with these tracks; vocals tend to screech the lyrics at times among the singing aspects. In a similar fashion, Play Dead is much tougher on choruses, creating explosions of sound after calmer verses. There is a central part of this song however, that adds nothing to the enjoyment and actually distracts from the fiery sounds that are on either side. Murder Me sounds a tad darker though is pretty smooth sailing at the same time.

As the album comes to a close, the music tends to calm a little. Tarot isn't as hard hitting as the previous tunes. There is less mayhem and more of a wave your arm to the melody style going on. Inferium drops dramatically in loudness and punch with guitars being strung gently then slowly accompanied by some strings and drumming while vocals really shine. It isn't until the last minute or so that things explode, and slightly overpower the ambiance that had been created until this point. Concluding the album is New Wave, another slow mover with its acoustic elements and much more subtle growth in sound and ambiance than its predecessor.

There is a right old rummage of sounds present on this release with some tracks being softer while others make much more of a kick in the gut. After a few listens it makes you wonder, was this album worth the wait? Have a listen and you decide.