Album/EP

The Dangerous Summer – All That Is Left of the Blue Sky (EP Review)

Walladmin

Heavy Metal Wordsmith

/10

Dec 9, 2020

7 min read

The Dangerous Summer – All That Is Left of the Blue Sky EP
Released: 4 December 2020

Lineup:

AJ Perdomo| vocals/Bass
Matt Kennedy| guitars

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Let's start by saying that I struggled with this review a bit, and it took me a little bit to put my thoughts together. Why? Because I honestly couldn't get into this EP and it took me a bit to work out why then try to put cohesive, constructive thoughts together to explain. I've also not really written a negative review before; while I am absolutely honest in my reviews, I am usually into whatever I end up reviewing. This is not to say there weren't parts of this EP that I liked, there were. There are parts of this EP that were great, but for the most part, I was just kinda meh about it. As I said, this is pretty much my first time being a bit more on the critical side, so be gentle with me. So with that said, feel free to disagree, and if you love this EP, rad! I'm going to run through my thoughts about it.

First up on the EP is ‘Fuck Them All’ which is a song I do like. It starts with warm guitars from Matt Kennedy, and it has a nice but also raw and emotional sound. Vocalist AJ Perdomo's voice is pained but also has a tinge of optimism to it. It's a 'fuck all of this; nothing's going to stop me' kind of song. The band has said the song is a middle finger up to the toxic parts of the music industry and anyone who doubts them. This feeling comes across well.

Next up is ‘Come Down’, which is a slower song that starts with piano and AJ's vocals but has gorgeous strings and eventually erupts towards the end. This song is your usual beautiful, slow moment that will be incredible to see live and is full of emotion.

https://youtu.be/5oR3tUpjY2w

‘I'm Alive’ is where we get to what I start to not like about this EP. And I know that sounds wild because It's an uplifting, good vibe song, but it's just a bit 'eh' to me. The sound of it is nice, the chords of it remind me of Third Eye Blind's ‘The Jumper’. I also like what this song is trying to do, it's about overcoming shit in life, making it through when the odds were stacked, and you had to try to keep living. My issue is that I feel like its pretty cliché. It takes regularly used chords and puts some fairly cliché themes and lyrics to them, and I think it's a shame. Just the whole driving down Mulholland with the top off my convertible vibe, is there no other way to say you love your life and everything is going well? And then even the chorus ‘Hallelujah I'm Alive’- just not a fan of its cliché-ness. And I felt this way about the film clip too; it was all the standard 'life is rad' stuff, driving in a cool, old car, going to a party, drinking beers and going to a beach in LA. Is it just that this year has crushed my soul and I am suddenly really cynical (who am I kidding, I've always been cynical), and anything optimistic and happy makes me screw my face up? Maybe I am missing the memo, and the cliché-ness is on purpose and I just don't ‘get it'. I don't know.

‘LA in a Cop Car’ brings it back for me a bit. This song has interesting lyrics that tell an interesting story. It's like ‘I'm Alive’ was the story of trying to be happy and pretend that your problems like drug addiction and mental health struggles don't exist, and then ‘LA in a Cop Car’ comes in and shows that there is a sinister side to the glittering life of LA. It's not all fun and positivity. This song is short and sharp, but I am into it.

‘Lie To Me’ is a slower, sadder sounding song about heartbreak. The keyboard and strings in this song are gorgeous, and the drumming is excellent! Fun fact about this album is that Aaron Gillespie from Underoath has provided the incredible drums throughout.

‘Come Along’ is a collab with Aaron and he lends his vocals to the bridge. This song is another one that is optimistic-sounding but deals with heavy themes, and I am pretty into it. Maybe my issue is that I like the juxtaposition of heavy/sad themes with nice-sounding instruments and when the band actually get optimistic, it doesn't translate as well in my opinion.

All in all, this EP is aight, the more I listened to it, the more I enjoyed it. I like what the band were trying to do, and as I said, I liked the songs that had intense themes with nice instruments. I think there were some missed opportunities and some points that could have come across a little better.