Album review: Roman Candle – Unadulterated

All things are cyclical. It’s why vinyl had another day in the sun, why 30-year old film franchises get rebooted, why Bring Me The Horizon and Thirty Seconds To Mars are doing live anniversaries for music they've long since outgrown. That nostalgia pendulum will also be swinging popular culture in and out of phases. With that in mind, Roman Candle have stepped up to the plate with their interpretation of ’00s screamo.

Unadulterated is the Las Vegas quartet’s debut album and comes three-and-a-half long years after their fantastic Discount Fireworks EP. The time in between may have been fraught with obstacles and setbacks, but it’s clearly given them the impetus to make this one of the most emotionally-charged, exposed-nerve releases of the year so far.

Fans of the band have already been given ample opportunity to hear what they’re cooking up, with seven of the 12 tracks released as singles, and the album opens with five of them on the bounce. Latest teaser Blasphemous Act opens as a cavorting and bruising slice of prime skramz melodrama. I Can't Stop Winning provides listeners with the first cut of truly new music on the album and hears vocalist Piper Ferrari ask, ‘If I die today, how long would I be missed?’ in one of the record’s most genuinely affecting moments.

Roman Candle also show themselves to be true students of the craft, evoking luminaries from across the hardcore and screamo space. My Silence Costs More Than You Can Afford sounds as if it were born of Converge's Jane Doe playbook, Lady Lazarus leans more into Touché Amoré territory, and the record as a whole carries the melancholy of a Funeral Diner or Saetia release.

That does in turn prevent Unadulterated from feeling particularly distinctive, as well crafted as these tracks are. However, Piper’s vocals are utterly enthralling, particularly on the spoken-word For Once My Hands Are Still that tees the end of the album up in chilling fashion.

In the end, Unadulterated works on multiple levels. It's an excellent first chapter for one of screamo’s new heroes, a fitting love letter to the scene as it was before, and a tantalising prospect of all to come from a band that demands attention.

Verdict: 3/5

For fans of: Dying Wish, Better Lovers, SeeYouSpaceCowboy

Unadulterated is released on April 24 via Sumerian.