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[olympia]

Touché Amoré dropped their 4th album and highly anticipated follow up to Is Survived By on Friday.

Like Is Survived By, Stage Four is a concept album about death. While Is Survived By is a product of the singer/songwriter Jeremy Bolm's anxieties about death and his legacy, Stage Four is a honest, brutal and incredibly vulnerable account of grief. Bolm's mother passed away in 2014 from cancer, hence the name of the album.

And while death looms as the most common of all denominators, Stage Four is packed with unmistakable biographic detail — Bolm’s mother Sandy died on Halloween of 2014 while Touché Amoré was onstage at Fest 13 in Gainesville, Florida. The exact moment where Bolm finds out is detailed in “Eight Seconds,” where the frontman gets a text saying, “We need to talk when you have a chance.” Rather than following through, he shakes hands with fans and talks shop. When he finally works up the nerve to call back, Bolm is told, “She passed away about an hour ago / While you were onstage living the dream.”

From Ian Cohen's excellent profile of the band.

If you're not familiar with TA, they are probably best known as being a hardcore outfit, but they have often departed from the usual trappings of hardcore as of late (to the dismay of HC purists). Especially in comparison to their S/T and their first full-length To The Beat of A Dead Horse.

If you're usually not into hardcore/post-hardcore and it's derivatives, screaming, etc, you probably won't get into this. However, I do personally consider TA to be extremely accessible as far as HC bands go, especially Is Survived By and recently Stage Four. If you like HC/post-hc/emo then by all means, check it out. If you're curious, check it out.

Singles:

Palm Dreams
Skyscraper (Music Video)

Reviews/Takes (To be updated):

Pitchfork

Understandably, the loss—and the fact that he couldn’t be by Sandy’s bedside when she passed away—tore him to shreds. When one of your parents dies, you never really recover; all you can do is sift through the memories and hold tight to the ones that make you smile. Or you can write an album about it, which brings us to Stage Four, Touché Amoré’s best album.

BV (scroll down a bit)

The album is so brutally personal that you could feel uncomfortable even listening to it, but like good art often does, the honesty usually just gets you thinking about your own experiences.

AV Club

Unapologetically direct, Bolm digs into his relationship sans the heavy-handed metaphors and tropes that would ultimately deflect focus. He wants to understand his mom’s life before, with, and gone from him—rather than use the record as his antidote, or even his therapy.

CoS

In “Palm Dreams”, the repetition of “On my own” marries beautifully with the rumble of guitars and drums, perfectly establishing the angst and isolation. The true masterpiece of the band’s musicality, though, is “Skyscraper”, on which Julien Baker acts as a great counter of serenity and optimism against a backdrop of snarling pain.

Rolling Stone Aus (short)

From the urgent atmospherics of opener "Flowers and You" to the oblique "Skyscraper", Bolm delves into the minutiae of her illness and his grief with equal parts rage and grace.

The Needle Drop

It's on Epitaph, so it's probably on your favorite music streaming service. I know the friends in the Emo thread are all over this but I thought it was one of the bigger releases this year, appropriate for an OT thread. they're managed by Roc so they are definitely on TIDAL lmao

Scream at me if old.

 

[Tetra-9]

Thanks for making this thread!

Just listened yesterday and was a little underwhelmed coming off of listening to their first 3 albums this past year. I will give it another shot soon though because this band is really talented.

 

[Metaroo]

I remember listening to To The Beat of a Dead Horse and loving it. I'll make sure and give this a listen tomorrow. Already loving Palm Dreams.

 

[kris.]

i got to meet jeremy once a few years ago at a show they were playing around here and he was just the nicest dude.

also this album rules so much.

 

[Mush]

Does everything rhyme?

 

[olympia]

i got to meet jeremy once a few years ago at a show they were playing around here and he was just the nicest dude.

also this album rules so much.

That's pretty cool. I've heard nothing but really nice things about him.

 

[SomedayTheFire]

Heartbreaking album

 

[akileese]

Heartbreaking album

It really is. It hits a bit too close to home for me. I didn't lose a parent to cancer but a very close friend back in the early 2000s. I've found myself sort of resenting this album for bringing up feelings that I sort of buried deep down inside of me. I don't think I've heard an album that spoke directly to me like Stage Four in quite some time.

 

[StillEdge]

I can't believe this band is still around and making music. I was all about them in 2009/2010 I used to see them what seemed like every weekend. I know it's so typical, but whatever they put out after TTBOADH just completely lost my interest and never cared to listen or see them again lol. I still wear their first shirt they released. Hell their lyrics were my senior quote. I might have to listen to this just because.

 

[olympia]

I can't believe this band is still around and making music. I was all about them in 2009/2010 I used to see them what seemed like every weekend. I know it's so typical, but whatever they put out after TTBOADH just completely lost my interest and never cared to listen or see them again lol. I still wear their first shirt they released. Hell their lyrics were my senior quote. I might have to listen to this just because.

that's pretty cool. I know you fell off but they have yet to miss for me. even their numerous splits rule

 

[FelixOrion]

I need to listen to this. Jeremy is such a great lyricist, passionate frontman, and all-around just really awesome guy.

 

[olympia]

updated op with CoS and Rolling Stone Aus reviews.

I think the standout track for me is eight seconds

the reception to this album has been pretty fucking good

 

[rocketskates]

Yeah it's been getting great reviews and a lot of mainstream press. Loved this band since their early stuff and have loved to see their progression.

This album hits way too close to home though, as my dad passed away from cancer just under 2 years ago.

Anyone else check out Hesitation Wounds? Jeremy's other band who also put out an album a few months ago.

 

[olympia]

Yeah it's been getting great reviews and a lot of mainstream press. Loved this band since their early stuff and have loved to see their progression.

This album hits way too close to home though, as my dad passed away from cancer just under 2 years ago.

Anyone else check out Hesitation Wounds? Jeremy's other band who also put out an album a few months ago.

I'm sorry for your loss.

Hesitation wounds is great. i have their s/t. i didn't even know they came out with an album.

updated op with the TND review. i thought the was going to rip on it after he gave skyscraper "worst track of the week" in one of his totw videos. I'm glad he gave it a second chance and I was pleasantly surprised by this review.

 

[shiftplusone]

a friend of mine posted that it was out and I thought "cool I like that band a lot," not knowing anything about the backstory of the album.

I lost my mom 7 months ago to cancer and I just was not prepared for this shit.

 

[rocketskates]

I'm sorry for your loss.

Hesitation wounds is great. i have their s/t. i didn't even know they came out with an album.

updated op with the TND review. i thought the was going to rip on it after he gave skyscraper "worst track of the week" in one of his totw videos. I'm glad he gave it a second chance and I was pleasantly surprised by this review.

Thanks. A sobering thought is hearing all of the people within the community share their stories about losing a parent to cancer, especially so recently.

Yeah, check out the album at 6131's bandcamp. The release really came out of nowhere, dunno if it was the fact Jeremy's label didn't release it themselves or DW didn't either as I didn't really see too much promotion from 6131. Regardless, it's great.

http://music.6131records.com/album/awake-for-everything

a friend of mine posted that it was out and I thought "cool I like that band a lot," not knowing anything about the backstory of the album.

I lost my mom 7 months ago to cancer and I just was not prepared for this shit.

Sorry to hear about your loss too