Album Review: Structures - 'Life Through a Window'

From the moment Life Through A Window's opener, 'Buried' kicks into full swing, the taste of bands such as Architects, Stray From the Path and Northlane fill your mouth.  Structures have taken many cues from these groups even within a few short seconds. It's obvious within one listen that Structures are trying to be all these bands simply under the one name. The funny thing? They've succeeded.

There's the bouncy and war-drum like percussion and tri-tones from Architects, with the djent and atmospheric tone of Northlane that creates a really powerful assault for the listener.  Just as you're dealing with this, the vocals, which sound almost exactly like Drew York (Stray from the Path) come in swinging. They lead the songs along at what feels like a million miles an hour.

The long and the short: This combination of influences leads to one hell of an album.

The whole way through, especially on songs like 'Broken Telephone' and 'Earth Gazer', there is a sense of discomfort within the music. It feels so mismatched, messy and disjointed. This helps to create a crazy and exciting atmosphere. Yet, what makes 'Life Through a Window' so spectacular is that through this mess and sound that feels like it's falling apart, there's an indescribable harmony and beauty to it. In many ways, if the instruments were all following each other and it was all easily paced, it wouldn't have the appeal or be as inviting.  

However, the song that takes the cake and puts every other one to shame is the closer and title track. Throughout, the guitars lend themselves to a more familiar sense of melody that drives the track up. It gives the whole song a big "boost" in terms of its atmosphere and tone. There's still that sense of discontinuity but it's this background guitar melody that keeps everything placed together. From the vocals, to the drum's bass and rhythm guitar, they all centre around this melody, still going strong and crazy. It shows Structures at the top of their game and solidifies them there.

Structures have created a solid blend of bands and influences to create a really appealing release. To some, the chaos and sonic messiness may be the exact opposite, but 'Life Through a Window' comes across as an album that is either loved or hated. If you like your music full-on, heavy, powerful or strongly influenced, this record will most likely find a home on your shelf or iTunes library.