Album Review: Let It Happen - 'Unravel'

It's a neat ode to past genre influence on 'Unravel'. Let It Happen manage to channel many of the pop punk greats for this new EP, with opener, ‘The Blame Game’ setting the groundwork. The song, much like what follows, is held together by repeated guitar lines and vocal hooks. The mid-range guitar passages introduced are catchy in the sense they become crucial to Let It Happen’s overal style. Accordingly, this trend becomes almost a constant feature for the duration of ‘Unravel’.

‘Say You'll Stay’ momentarily drops the tempo to allow for some self-reflection, with lines such as, "Why am I so bad at taking good advice?" This is then abandoned in the single ‘Over My Head’, a track that shows strong signs of Mayday Parade-like influences, as the opening impression returns. Despite a fairly standard blueprint, there are some great moments lyrically, for instance, “Always the starving, never the fed, you’re dying for attention, you’ll take what you can get”.

‘Ghost of Yesterday’ gives off heavy Anarbor vibes and is also full of repeated hooks. The track though, becomes a little bit too predictable with rhymes such as "crazy" and "hazy". ‘Black and White’ redeems this with some more thought-provoking lyrics– "one thread, one pull, unravel" followed by, "my thoughts, my fears, unfounded”.

‘Black and White’ yet again contains a sound, which is very familiar to that of the aforementioned Mayday Parade, but slightly less poppy. Closer, ‘Us Against the World’ while slow, still manages to have power behind it. The verse vocal lines hold a wretched enthusiasm, akin to what Justin Pierre of Motion City Soundtrack is well known for, among other instrumental similarities.

The influences are worn a little too closey to the sleeve here, however, as a basic statement, 'Unravel' receives a pass mark.

There is not a lot that sets Let It Happen apart from other pop punk style bands. Regardless of this though, the band sure know how to put together a pop punk collection, and ‘Unravel’ will surely appeal to many fans of the genre.

1. The Blame Game

2. Say You'll Stay

3. Over My Head

4. Ghost of Yesterday

5. Black and White

6. Us Against the World