It’s time to review an upcoming band again and this time it’s Jack the Envious‘ second EP, In Your Own Way. There’s a chance you’ve never heard of the band before, if this is the case, you can read all about them in our Discover feature. To give the band a brief introduction: the band was founded in Israel, but its members decided it was time to pack up and move to London. They previously released an EP called Pull You Down, which was a great debut EP. It’s because of this amazing debut EP that I have little doubt that In You Own Way will be just as good, if not better.
Comparison
I will begin by comparing both EP’s. As I mentioned before, the debut EP was a solid piece of work, however, there were a few songs that sort of disappointed me. This is not the case for In Your Own Way. Every track on the EP just screams to be repeated and it’s a great record to listen to. In Your Own Way seems to be somewhat heavier than Pull You Down. This adds some variety to the band’s material. The softer tracks on this EP are Shut Me Off and Mrs. Grim. Both are wonderful tracks that could’ve easily been featured on Pull You Down. This is mainly due to the fact that they sound a lot more like the other material on that EP. I’d recommend listening to this EP and judging for yourself.
Catchy and Hard-hitting
Every single track on the EP is amazingly catchy and hits hard. What I’m trying to say is that both of these elements are being interchanged perfectly. Guilty and Never Look Down portray this aspect heavily, but almost every track has at least some of these great changes. While we’re talking about Guilty and Never Look Down anyways: while listening to Guilty, I was pleasantly surprised by a breakdown that seemed to be a style breaker. It doesn’t fit in well with the post-hardcore sound, but the band somehow made it work. My first thought was that it would be nearly impossible for the band to produce a better song. But man, I was dumbfounded when I heard the perfectly fitting breakdown on Never Look Down. This particular breakdown gets its charm from the build-up, the combination between the vocals and the instrumentals, and the final execution. In my eyes, this track is the best one on the album and thus a terrific way to close the EP.
Theme
The band’s material has a recurring theme. The message the band seems to leave is a little cliche, but who cares. The world around us is a hostile place and it’s time for a change. This seems to be the tone the band wants to set and it’s best heard in tracks like Begging for More and Guilty. The following line can be heard on Never Look Down: ”You’re the only one who can decide how long you have to walk in hell”. This is by far one of the most powerful lines on the EP. This is mainly due tot he way frontman Nir Perlman sings these words. It really makes you think.
Verdict
Did Jack the Envious manage to raise the bar they’ve set after Pull You Down? Yes, they did. In Your Own Way is an amazing EP I can’t find anything bad on. That being said, I do hope the band keeps making music for the years to come.
Overall score: 9/10
Release date: 14 July 2017
Label: –
