ATP! Album Review: Senses Fail - Renacer

"Renacer" translates from Spanish into "revive" or "to be reborn". It’s a powerful word, an evocative word and one that would usually accompany a band coming back from a long hiatus. Since Senses Fail last released a new studio album less than 3 years ago then, do they mean to re-establish their sound with this record? Renacer is intriguing even from the title, promising to redefine Senses Fail, and invites the listener to contrast its fervour with the band’s previous work, but how does it truly compare?

Well, from the opening title track, the intentions of the title are already in your face, threatening to punch it in. It’s heavy, it’s powerful, it’s beautiful and it’s a new Senses Fail. This album isn’t just heavy though, it’s fast too, exploring the worlds of hardcore punk and metal both while leaving just enough room to make it something more, to make it Senses Fail, rather than someone else’s sound given a twist, and it is their own. Even as influences from all over the world of rock shine through it’s clear that Senses Fail have built a place of their own, and what’s intriguing about that place is that it’s new, despite how long the band have been making music there’s no denying how fresh this record sounds.

Renacer has hints of Thrice, Nirvana, Minor Threat, Drowning Pool, Machine Head, in fact it borrows so widely from the heavier end of the spectrum that it would be impossible to name all of the artists that share the elements Senses Fail have managed to fuse together with alchemy on this album, from ‘Holy Mountains,’ to ‘Canine,’ to the Deftones-esque psychedelia of ‘Glass,’ to ‘Ancient Tombs’ - an ode to melodic metal - all of Renacer's highlights are but shining beacons in a fire already burning bright, and to appreciate how polished this record is it would be an injustice not to listen to it all.

5/5

Edward Strickson

Renacer will be released on March 26th via Staple Records.