Stay Inside recently released their first full-length record, ’Viewing’, through No Sleep Records on 10th April 2020.
‘Viewing’ is heavily influenced by classic, post-hardcore and experimental screamo, entwining themes of honesty, guilt and pride to focus on self-reflection throughout the album.
Filled with heavy guitar riffs, adventurous drumbeats, and a cacophony of emotion, ‘Viewing’ is definitely not for the faint-hearted! The album alternates all 10 tracks between hushed whispers to passionate screams to fully explore the emotional and personal depth of each track.
There are many interesting elements to the album including a sound repeated at the start and end of the album of a car door opening/ shutting followed by the typical alert that a seatbelt isn’t locked.
It’s these little things amongst the chaos that brings ‘Stay Insides’ album to life. The confessional lyrics, harmonies and intonation all add weight to the records focus, that as we approach death, we hope we can be comfortable with our actions.
Easing into the album is ‘Revisionist’ which uses a quick jagged riff, setting the tone of the album before becoming much calmer with rawer vocals that dominate the chorus. A softer approach is taken with the introduction to the second track ‘Void’, paired with a spoken narrative to lull you into a false sense of calm before the impending chaos breaks through.
The layering of vocals in this track is a commonly used technique throughout the album, which adds to the manic energy and passion. The track ‘Ivy’ uses another of the album’s techniques in isolating various sections of tracks to maximise the emotional impact of both the lyrics and melody.
‘Ivy’, flickers between this, and is heavily dominated by the guitar whilst at moments, isolating certain elements, creating a huge explosion of sound. Similarly, with ‘Split’, there is an unapologetically chaotic use of sound and volume to drive the emotion behind the lyrics.
The slower, bittersweet sounds of ‘Divide’ and ‘Wake’ are a welcome change, however, following the previous drama of the track, something is holding you back from fully settling down into them. That something is ‘Veil’. The brazenly off-kilter track uses the raucous number to jolt you back to life to the manic sounds which fill the album.
The final track of the album ‘Leave’ retreats into the gloom, focusing fully on the cycle of life and death. Filled with soft and ghostly harmonies, there is an element of both fear and peace to the track. It feels like the whole track is a juxtaposition of life and death with, “rot into earth, grown to trees, and forget the heart that brought them”, being the final lyrics of the track.
Whilst some of the tracks don’t necessarily add to the record as a whole, the constant balance between despair and empowerment, life and death and other conflicting themes make for a gripping roller-coaster ride of emotion… as long as you’re brave enough.