Fresh Picks: Alive/Alone.

Alive/Alone – Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Photo credit – Stolen Photography – Click Here.

August 2014 saw Chicago four-piece Alive/Alone hit the airwaves with their debut self-titled EP, showcasing six tracks that sit somewhere in the middle of a high-noted, passionate, screeching and discordant set of Post-Hardcore, from both the old-school and the later 2000’s, infused with more recent influence from the Emo-Pop years.

The band’s sound is easily comparable to bands such as The Used and latter-day AFI but also more contemporary and crucial acts such as Letlive, yet still maintains the structure of the early days of the genre, which is something that these days that Post-Hardcore is really lacking – appreciation of it’s roots.

Track one of the debut, ‘601’ stands out and not just because it sounds like At The Drive-In, more because it’s a testament to the union of old and new.

However, then you have tracks such as ‘Love: The Gateway Drug’, ‘Victory Flower’ and ‘Empire’ which sit closer to The Used or Letlive. The first EP in general has a solid track placing with how Alive/Alone’s style slowly progresses as you go. That said, Emo-Pop ballads such as ‘Writing Class’, despite it’s playfully dreary Post-Punk guitars, are a bit much but that can easily be put down to my own subjectivity.

Vocally, you either get soft crooning Emo-tones or harder early 2000’s Post-Hardcore screams, the balance between them works but the clean vocals could be deeper and more grounded on the heavier material.

The second EP is again strong with influence from Letlive, and whether intended or not, sounds akin to the pre-Fake History material. Minutes into Dreary Beloved, with the title track and the following ‘Guilt’, the band’s amped up intensity is clear but not too obvious and isn’t trying too hard for now at least.

However, criticism of the high notes in the vocals is fair, as the racing high notes punch far above their weight at times. As a release however, it is redeemed by playful Alternative Rock tracks such as ‘Unseen’ which are welcome despite breaking the chain of the EP.

‘Blood Boiled’ is another with playful guitar work and intense clean vocals, showing improvement in the first half of the song. In the second half however, they fail to reach the high-notes and seem to realise this, by compensating later on with terrifying screams.

‘Nothing New’ the closer of the 2015 Dreary Beloved, is essentially an outro but like ‘Unseen’ is welcome in it’s chain breaking. The band show room to grow on the latter of these releases but also a commitment to their roots which is something you have to respect. There are some creases to iron out, but thankfully I think the band will have no trouble in doing so.

Find them below:

• For updates, head to Facebook and Twitter.
• For the band’s music, find them on iTunes, bandcamp.
• Alive/Alone also have another EP in the works set for a Summer (US) 2016 release, so keep an eye out.

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