The Greater the Risk's 'Say What You Never Said' album review

The Greater the Risk’s second EP release is youthful sounding with a punk-sensibility. Their summery songs conjure up a very Warp Tour energy with their tendency to exalt in the ubiquitous jam-fest. But it is no wonder because the band started out as a dream the band members were each striving for. Formed during their years as college buddies, one could get lost within the melodic force and the power riffs that permeate the tunes on Say What You Never Said. The compilation exists as a powerful dream-aesthetic, and the newer songs can be very charismatic. Drawing listeners into its distinct melodies, one can drown within the song’s sensibilities.

The emotive stance in each of the songs on this EP makes the haunted lyricisms and the punk-cohesive melodies very accessible. The most memorable song has to be the closer, “The Better or the Best You Remember”. About an estranged love, the track comes off as nearly cathartic – it seems like bottled emotions are being fully expressed, and the result is a nearly contagious sound. Listeners will recognize that the overtures running throughout the gamut of Say What You Never Said are filled with an accusatory vocalization of love lost. It can be said that the strong vocalization that is being voiced here borders on melodramatic. Yet it won’t be lost on listeners that these sensitive tunes are perhaps the catalyst to some youthful, bygone romance. A sense of nostalgia and sentimentality is very evident on this EP.

With a sound that is able to evoke a nostalgic-feel from audiences, the songs off this EP is certainly very dream-like. Drowning whatever else is going on in your life, The Greater the Risk has certainly created something that is attention-grabbing. As the EP draws to the close, the tracks become more-mature in sound. Although the first half of the EP has connotations of a more generic punk music-style, there is a quality to The Greater the Risk’s latest release that is still happening, still refreshing.