Album Review // Frame and Mantle // Well of Light

Self-released

4.5/5 stars

Who needs subgenres, anyways? On their second full-length album Well of Light, Frame and Mantle shed any typical post-rock or emo template they may have been following in favor of something bigger, darker, and largely new for the quartet. Take, for instance, the album's opening title track, where vocalist Connor Freer sounds more in control than ever. Harmonizing with their own screams, Freer is backed by Brian Thompson's soft and sinister guitar work. It's not your typical opening track, but it's a risk that pays off and sets the tone for what's to come. Single "Down a Thousand" recalls the heyday of melodic hardcore legends Title Fight, offering larger-than-life chugging and gnashing vocals that border on spoken word by the song's second verse. But as its title suggests, Well of Light often hides a glimmer of brightness in its angst-driven songs, such as the horns that open the melancholy but jangly "Failsafe." Most impressively, Frame and Mantle weaves all of these sounds together into something substantial and cohesive – a surefire sign that the band is continuing to mature with time.