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Rating: It is true, an EP with 4 tracks is a bit scarce to definitively judge the qualities of a band born from the ashes of At The Drive In. Actually, there are only 3 real songs, while the last piece is a de-mix that is difficult to evaluate. Let's take a moment to recap the events that led to Sparta: At the peak of their success, Omar Rodriguez and Cedric Bixler left At The Drive In due to conflicts with the band, forcing the remaining 4 members to dissolve the group. After a very few months and fighting every image prejudice, the same (four) decided to try again by founding Sparta. This May marked their debut with the EP "Austere," in which they demonstrate with 3 superb tracks their stubborn desire to continue precisely where ATDI had left off. And the formula continues to please and excite. The brilliance and creativity that distinguished ATDI also characterize Sparta, there is no doubt, the basis on which to rebuild a project that collapsed dramatically was already valid before and you can certainly hear it in Sparta as well. The EP should be seen as a teaser for the first album by the Texans, still untitled and due to be released in the summer, and it still manages to raise tension and anticipation for the first complete publication by the El Paso guys. Three melodic and saturated tracks, with the unmistakable touch of ATDI's style, which personally I do not dislike at all. Jim Ward's voice is also excellent, who live at the Knaack in Berlin, despite the great performance, has not yet managed to hide the embarrassment and nervousness for the difficult vocal legacy left to him. This is a sign of humility and seriousness, then, and certainly also of realism in the face of the difficult task of realizing and maturing a project that collapsed almost by accident. A nice fusion of rock and melodic hardcore, less frantic and more solid than ATDI, with a promising future within reach. The new album's tracks, at least live, were convincing, so while we wait to hear it in a few months, we have to content ourselves with "Austere" and count the days that separate us from perhaps the most promising record of the summer. Keep going down this path so that in a few years you might make us forget ATDI completely!
Tracklist and Lyrics
01 Mye (03:31)
I'll qualify this circumstance
broadcast, renew this chance
pin hope on this promise
graduate to a settled score
projects through mansion doors
stand up, dust yourself off
it's troubled now by swelling tide
beached hope and sandstone lies
you're dazed in the moment
This time I'll get it right
you can't defend it, it's predetermined
You know I'll sit at the bottom space
trace lines in the vacant face
it's all about these changes
small flat in a smaller town
steal hope to pass around
you're caught in the memory
These shores aren't out of reach.
02 Cataract (05:09)
Locked up in the distance
in the falter above us
as the contrails pass you spoke your mind
old photos distort you
and you're frowning a smile
as the misery makes us blind
stand down, fall apart and the trouble starts
yeah the trouble starts over again
in the scenes of this casting
where a tragedy follows
as the contrails pass this vacant sky
Disappear, Orlean
away from tarnished golden arsenals
you're laying down again
disappear, Orlean
because your swansong fell on fallen heads
you're laying down again
time goes nowhere
03 Vacant Skies (03:32)
Crumbling around the freefall
This missing air will forever make
Your nerves crawl
Crumbling
We will assume the worst
Encapsulation, fists clenched and falling
Mistakes make it easy
Harmonic turbulence shakes
Ties red booths to magazines
Stand and clear
Harmonic
We will assume the worst
Encapsulation, fists clenched and falling
Mistakes make it easy
Encapsulation, eyes dry and vacant
Mistakes make it easy
Say no more
Say no more
Say, say, no more
Encapsulation, fists clenched and falling
Mistakes make it easy
Encapsulation, eyes dry and vacant
Mistakes make it easy
We recall, it's all meaningless
Green eyes blur, give in easier
and make you blind
We recall, we recall
Simplicity
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