There’s hardly any new ground broken on Misadventures, but the degree in which it shows that Pierce The Veil have sharpened their abilities can’t be ignored.Īnd where Pierce The Veil set themselves apart from the competition is in their use of diversity and technicality, something which is probably this album’s strongest suit. Elsewhere, The Divine Zero uses its nuance to its advantage for some real power and force, and Bedless‘ staccato, ever-so-saccharine guitars and synthetic twinkles are simple but tremendously effective. Floral & Faded is a lot more understated than a lot of what Pierce The Veil have done in the past but really benefits from its great shuffling groove and lack of polish, and Circles takes a much poppier standpoint in its massive, infectious hooks. And alongside a couple of dud tracks – Texas Is Forever still fails to ignite even in the context of the album, and Sambuka feels like more bluster than song – it means that Misadventures is a couple of rungs below its predecessor.Įven so, Misadventures still remains an impressive effort thanks to its abundance of strong songs. And while to an extent this may come with the territory for a band like Pierce The Veil – a good percentage of the Warped Tour scene seems to be built around rehashing ideas, after all – it makes for an experience that’s less compelling overall. The most obvious one is probably the familiarity at all – while it’s subjective whether this is a negative at all, most of Misadventures seems to be treading the same ground as four years ago. And while its mistakes are easy to spot, they’re not album-breaking in magnitude. Because while it can’t quite reach the heady heights of Collide With The Sky, Misadventures shows that, even after their extended period of time away, Pierce The Veil still have that spark and knack for polished, relatively interesting post-hardcore. But with Misadventures finally dropping, has the wait been worth it? With a recording process frequently brought to a halt thanks to everything from extensive touring schedules to bouts of inter-band depression, it seemed as though the album was due to slink further and further into myth.
It’s led to the excitement for their much-delayed fourth album Misadventures reaching almost excruciating levels for their ever-expanding fanbase, but it’s not been for nothing. After 2012’s Collide With The Sky turned out better than really anyone expected, the San Diegan quartet’s rise was stratospheric, leapfrogging the vast majority of their peers and seeing Vic Fuentes becoming president elect of the Warped Tour scene. Misadventures is the first Pierce The Veil album that really has something riding on it.