Review Summary: An interesting melding of genres that makes this EP a short but excellent experience throughout it's entire duration.
In spite of the Melodic Hardcore genre currently having several exceptional bands within it (see: Departures, More Than Life etc), the genre isn't the most innovative in the world. While there are plenty of bands putting out great releases, it can be a bit tricky for bands to find a way to stand out apart from the plethora of bands doing a similar thing. Luckily, Glasgow's Antiguo manage to avoid this by blending Melodic Hardcore with elements of Post Punk.
Guitarist Danny Nash is no stranger to Hardcore, also being a member of fellow Glasgow based Melodic Hardcore darlings Departures. The guitar work on this EP isn't too different to what is normally found within the genre, but is also a lot more melodic and clean sounding. However, the strong structures are still reminiscent of what you get with Hardcore, just with a new spin on the sound provided by the more clean and twinkly sounding guitars. One particular part that exemplifies this is the breakdown in opening track 'Black Glitter', which is able to be crushing without sounding out of place and sacrificing the intent and vibes of the song. The closest to typical Melodic Hardcore that the release gets is penultimate track 'Salt Water', which has more melancholic guitar work as well as more aggression shining through.
One stand out of the release is the vocal performance of Bobby Simpson. The best analogy to describe this is if Robert Smith from The Cure fronted a Hardcore band. Rather than full on screaming or full on singing, Simpson opts for something in between. While some parts are more sung and some parts are more shouted, most of the vocals hit a sweet spot that's halfway between singing and shouting, giving his vocals a unique sound in comparison to other bands playing this kind of music.
Overall, this is an incredibly enjoyable EP that takes two genres and manages to blend them together practically seamlessly to create a unique sound that makes for a joyful listen from start to finish.
Stand Outs:
Black Glitter
The Altar
Salt Water
