Stab – Lost In Maine

Is there such a thing as melodic hardcore?, well Stab who are set to release their debut album Lost In Maine on 24th July via Unbeaten Records certainly think so on this seven track release, yeah only seven tracks, you might feel like you’ve been cheated, or not, lets listen and see.

The ‘Intro’ is very dramatic in sound and delivery, this reflects it’s lyrical sadness, a sense of loss when people die too early this is conveyed with perfect intenseness, but then once you set off into track two, ‘New England Numb’, you get the sense of this albums need to fill some kind of void in growing up. A place where the sense of loss comes and goes with every new day, reflection is something you feel more and more, all this melancholy is thankfully surrounded by music that actually lifts you up and drags you kicking and screaming into every day with angst as your pill. It only takes this few songs to come to the conclusion that this is an album of life moments and how growing up in a sad town brings sad moments and a fight to find your feet. ‘Casco St’ is filled with metaphors for all of this, its then ‘Nuit’ is as dark as its title simply says, is it a call for help after the help has gone, or a call for help when you know its never coming, dark places need an inkling of hope.

Then you crash headlong into ‘V’ featuring Josh Hynes of Recollection and all the angst if back, the fight is 100% never over, it’s now that musically this band shows its real teeth. The relentless beat and rhythm from the back line is joined by a thrash of strings that are like sinews stretching and pulling every ounce of energy they can give out of them, which seamlessly drops into ‘Rinse’ another shot to the head! This is a song that is tough to convey in writing just how intense it is, life is short, does it need to be any shorter is all I can think, go listen and you may understand more, an absolute scream in the dark.

So was there such a thing as melodic hardcore, fucking yeah there is, this album is this in spades, but what it also is is as dark and angry as you could ever get without being just boring emo, it’s an‘Irish Goodbye’ not just in name, but in reality. I did think from the off that seven songs was just a little short for an album, but truthfully, this album needs no more, its exactly what it is and needs no embellishment.

Lost In Maine is due out on the 24th July through streaming platforms and on CD and vinyl via Unbeaten Records. You can find Stab on Bandcamp and Instagram.