The Dangerous Summer - Gravity
The Dangerous Summer is back with their new album, 'Gravity,’ and with it comes the next step in the evolution of the band and its sound. Having first signed a record deal in high school seniors, The Dangerous Summer has been around for a while now. With six albums behind them, you start to question if they can get better than they already are or progress their sound any further, but the new album ‘Gravity’ is easily the best they have sounded in years.
With The Dangerous Summer, one thing you can always expect with their music is big sweeping riffs, honest and authentic lyrics, big booming drums, and a bass line that drives the song, and it’s no exception on this album. Only this time around, the riffs are bigger, the lyrics dig deeper, and the drums hit harder. It really feels like a return to the early days, similar in sound to that of ‘Reach For the Sun’ if it had been recorded at a later date with a more mature focus.
The album kicks off with ‘I Feel More Like Myself When I’m Losing It,’ bravely stating ‘This won’t be the album that anyone wanted or asked for.’ Within the first few lines of the song. It’s a bouncing big anthem with a chorus made for shouting at the top of your lungs before moving into the riff-driven ‘Pacific Ocean’. It's a song full of life and energy backed by a strong guitar riff, which takes the lead in driving the song. ‘Gravity’ takes us on a different journey, serving as a powerful anthem about overcoming personal darkness and navigating the unknown. AJ Perdomo’s vocals shine on this track; they hit hard over an array of ethereal guitar tones, making it easy to see why this was chosen as the first single from the album.
‘You’ll See It All Coming’ is a more emotional song. Perdomo’s vocals to ring out over quiet guitars before building up into louder choruses before finishing off with a multi-layered vocal chorus.
‘What’s an Hour Really Worth?’ takes us into a more familiar territory with a riff that could easily be plucked from ‘Mother Nature,’ yet it remains fresh. The band took a different approach when writing this song, with the aim of having no cymbals used by the drum kit, and it works well. It gives the drums a bigger sound, while never making them sound out of place.
‘Turning Love Into War’ plays with the idea of lonely people turning love into a battlefield and navigating the conflicts that come with relationships.
‘Where Did All the Time Go?’ opens with possibly the catchiest riff on the album before diving into a bass-driven verse. This song is a real treat for fans of the band's earlier work, specifically the album ‘War Paint’. It’s uplifting and euphoric in nature and is a real standout song on the album. ‘With My Pen ’feels like a darker and heavier song than the othersongs found on the album. The guitar tones and lyrical content reinforce this judgment. ‘Wild One’ feels different to other tracks, with a more obvious keys section coming through on the verses, bringing with it a sense of sadness before heading into a fast-paced chorus.
‘Clouds in My Eyes’ feels like a tribute to a loved one. Starting off with guitars, they strum quietly behind Perdomo’s bellowing vocals, before bringing it all together, backed by the full band. The guitar tones all feel emotive, as do the lyrics and the way in which they are sung provide a hit of emotion feeling similar to that of a gut punch. ‘Dream’ brings us back up with a huge chorus filled with dreamy swirling guitars; this song deserves to be played loud.
It also feels like a fitting end for the album- however, we still have one more song left. ‘Into The Stratosphere’ finishes the album with an acoustic song, draped in dreamy guitars. It’s quite different to the rest of the album, feeling like something you may listen to on a sleepy Sunday afternoon. Whilst Perdomo’s vocal range on this song is impressive, it doesn’t necessarily land as well as some of the other songs on the album.
Overall ‘Gravity’ is a solid album whilst it doesn’t progress the bands sound much further it also doesn’t sound like a rehash of old material. This is a fresh and exciting album and, in my opinion, one of the best albums they’ve released in recent years. Personally I found it to be an album I could listen to from start to finish without any skips. It’s an album filled with highs and lows and everything in-between. AJ’s vocals sound fantastic on this album and the bands input can be felt across the album. For fans of The Dangerous Summer, ‘Gravity ’ is a great addition to the bands discography, filled with huge riffs, booming drums and even
bigger choruses whilst never straying far from the bands traditional style of song writing. For new fans, this is also a perfect album to jump in and experience the bands emotive song writing and bigger than life sound.
Gravity is out today via Rude Records and can be found on all major streaming platforms and in all major record shops.
