Adorn – Let Love Remain

If you paid attention to what’s happening on the contemporary post-hardcore music scene, you’ve probably noticed how many artists and bands deliver some of the finest works this subgenre witnessed in years. However, only a few manage to bring some fresh music that sounds unlike anything else, mainly because many music outlets often mimic something renowned greats recorded and released decades ago. It seems like they’re either trying to reinvent the same old wheel all over again or overly experiment, to the point it doesn’t sound like post-hardcore any longer. Thankfully, there are bands like Adorn who know how to deliver fresh, unique, innovative, contemporary post-hardcore music without copying others or experimenting too much. With “Let Love Remain,” their new full-lenght album released today via streaming platforms, they prove that post-hardcore, when done right, can still sound exciting like the first time you’ve heard it. This material packs everything you ever needed from this genre, and maybe even more, considering that the band also stacked these songs with some of the finest properties borrowed from emo, core, alternative, indie, modern rock, etc. They use all these additional elements as more than necessary enhancements, accentuations, decorations, and other details to elevate these compositions to new heights while simultaneously remaining loyal to the primary sonic direction. While “Let Love Remain” carries all the fundamental elements of modern post-hardcore, as the band incorporated qualities that meet all the trends of contemporary production, you’ll also notice how they pay homage to the early days. The band intended to deliver a debut album that represents their collective strength, channeling all the experiences, knowledge, and skills they’ve earned while being part of the music industry. Lyrically, the band writes songs about political polarization, cultural divide, and the hardships of life. Their music explores various sentiments, moods, situations, and circumstances in such a poetic, storytelling way, making “Let Love Remain” a highly relatable material that will appeal to a broader audience.

As soon as you press play, you’ll notice how much time, effort, heart, and soul Adorn have invested into this debut release. Each composition arrives with a thoughtfully assembled structure, decorated with many profoundly detailed segments, brilliant ideas, and outstanding musicianship. Each vocal, sonic, and rhyhtmic maneuver has its place and purpose in this sonic equation, making “Let Love Remain” such a pleasant listening experience worth repeating over and over again. Each composition resonates uniquely, but it perfectly works with the remainder, making it a cohesive whole. The first thing you’ll stumble upon is Austin Gordon’s marvelous vocal performance. His voice acts as a centerpiece of this sonic equation, elevating everything to new heights, commanding attention, and guiding the listener on an epic sonic journey through the expansive sonic universe. The combination of calm, soothing, relaxing, ethereal, clean vocal lines and powerful, raw, aggressive shouts seamlessly balances low, mid, and high notes, emphasizing everything the remainder of the band intended to achieve with such precision and finesse. The intensity, power, and aggression in his voice solely depends of the particular moment or mood of the song, but each side of his vocal range sounds impressive. Besides decorating all the segments and instrumentation, his voice also contributes more than necessary emotional depth and complexity over an already intricate song structure. In the meantime, the thoughtfully assembled interplay between rhythm and lead guitars shapes a perfect backdrop for all the vocals to shine upon. You’ll hear how all those catchy, memorable, and engaging chord progressions resonate on one side while the beautiful leads, themes, melodies, harmonies, and other sonic maneuvers shine on the other. It’s nearly mindblowing how all those layers articulate together without overwhelming each other, proving that Kalen Orr and Eric Jones thought about everything while assembling these guitar works.

This album wouldn’t sound complete without the equally impressive rhythm section. You’ll hear how the intricate, warm-sounding basslines rumble beneath lush guitar works, offering more than necessary heaviness, clarity, and depth while simultaneously acting as a binding element between the mentioned instrumentation and rhyhtmic patterns. Logan Gavaldon’s rich, deep, dense, heavy low end notes provide more groove, detail, and power without overwhelming other orchestrations, yet they’re vividly hearable in the mix. His instrument plays a significant role in this sonic equation, offering warmth that acts as a counterbalance to raw, aggressive, gritty guitar works. Ray Rose’s exceptional drumming performance, based upon cleverly arranged, flawlessly performed, well-accentuated beats, breaks, fills, and other percussive acrobatics, keeps the other instruments in line while dictating groove and pace. Each hit of the snare, kick of the bass drum, accentuation over the hi-hat, and splashes over cymbals play a significant role here, offering groove, power, dynamics, and detail. Songs like “The Brave And Bled Defiant,” “Pass The Pulse,” “Voyeur,” “Paper Crane,” “Diving Bell,” “Zero Hour,” and “A House Divided Cannot Stand” are definitive standouts, but I highly recommend you to listen to this material from scratch to finish, as it carries many captivating moments that will force you to spin the album all over again. Adorn have crafted and released a modern post-hardcore masterpiece, fully packed with so many beautiful moments that will convince you to place this comprehensive collection of thoughtfully written and flawlessly performed songs on your playlist. Their experience, knowledge, creativity, talent, and skills are on full display here, as the band demonstrates how post-hardcore, when done right, can still sound fresh, unique, innovative, and exciting. Do not miss this marvelous album!