Road To Horizon: Faultlines

Artist: Road To Horizon
Title: Faultlines
Format Reviewed: MP3
Format Released: 20th October 2014
Reviewed By: Dan Stoten

A five-piece UK post-hardcore outfit with a suitably edgy name and dark track titles who have, early in their career, shared stages with stalwarts Funeral For A Friend and Heart In Hand. A suitably t-shirt friendly logo on the front of the EP cover. Roars and screams combined with catchier, more melodic choruses. You've heard it all before, right?

Unfortunately, for Road To Horizon, this is very much the case.

To add some context, Road To Horizon hail from Yorkshire and release their four-track EP Faultlines later this month, having been met with a level of acclaim from local and national press. BBC Introducing in Leeds championed their previous EP (Chapters) before they shared stages with the aforementioned FFAF et al. Their latest effort was recorded with Lee Batiuk of While She Sleeps and Deaf Havana fame.

It must be said that Faultlines is a very slickly produced piece of music: the mix spot-on, the overall result being well polished. This is not only a result of Batiuk's work, but testament to such a young band and something of which they can be proud.

The issue I have with the EP, however, is that there's simply nothing here to make it stand out. It's a perfectly decent melodic post-hardcore effort: there's nothing wrong with it per se but it just doesn't grab you and haul you in. It's not quite aggressive enough to smash your eardrums to pieces; and equally it's not quite melodic and catchy enough to get you singing the choruses for hours afterwards. It's just... well, it's just fine. Nothing beyond that. It's too similar to much of what has come before, and while that is arguably a road towards commercial success, it doesn't make for the most inspiring of EPs.

I don't want to leave this review on an entirely negative note, however. There are definitely huge glimmers of potential for Road To Horizon: as I say, this is in no way a bad EP. It's just a little too ordinary.