Heavy outfit Stained Glass is back with “The Abbey”, a track that perfectly captures their self-described Third Wave sound. In short, a collision of grunge, shoegaze and hardcore.
From the very beginning, “The Abbey” immediately grabs your attention with a strange and rather unsettling atmosphere. The opening riffs almost feel like a broken record stuck in a loop or like the soundtrack to an old horror movie. There’s something about the guitar tone that makes the riffs feel almost like a sinister laugh in the background. I’m probably wrong about the band’s intention but I love that it opened up my imagination.
Overall the track has an interesting structure. It moves between different moods, starting with that haunting atmosphere before suddenly turning into something much closer to a pop-punk track, eventually building into heavier sections where the band’s hardcore influences really shine through.
The main thing that slightly holds the track back for me is the simplicity of the lyrics. The repeated line “She says violence works for her” makes up a huge part of the song so it clearly becomes repetitive. That said, it is also effective because the sentence sticks in your head and I found myself humming it afterwards, even after the first listen.
The other challenge is that outside of that central line, the vocals are buried behind effects, almost as if the singer is singing from a distance. It adds to the atmosphere and fits the darker sound of the track but it can make some of the lyrics harder to fully connect with.
Stained Glass are clearly a band with a strong identity and I’m intrigued to see where they take their Third Wave sound next.
IT’S FESTIVAL SEASON, ALL THE LATEST LINE UPS AND FESTIVAL NEWS HERE AND INTERVIEW NEWS HERE