Into The Light – Into The Light
Release Date: 24th December 2023
Coming at us with a debut release towards the depths of 2023 were New York based alt-rockers Into The Light and their self-titled EP. Six tracks of genre melding rock brings together aforementioned alt-rock with some dirty grunge smattered throughout, softer shoegaze elements and more than enough pure hard rock to tie it all together nicely.
‘The Thorns Of Life’ brings the energy up front with a bruising intro and a powerful riff that leads into the first of many gritty sections, channelling the inner Alice In Chains from the off. Despite the track progressing relatively slowly, with guitars and vocals more considered throughout, the track has a strong energy to it, even when transitioning into the softer, dreamlike vocals towards the end. Almost five minutes are racked up on what will be most people’s first experience of Into The Light and while it’s a solid intro to the band, it’s the most recent single, ‘Camera Shy’, that is the true showcase of what they are about. The guitars are addictive, the vocals soft and emotive, energy pouring out.
‘Manuscript’ and ‘Call It’ straddle the middle of Into The Light and act as the heaviest section of the EP by some distance. The former starting out a moody and dramatic affair that grows through to each chorus in true grunge style where the latter takes a more energetic and punky view of the world. Both tracks combined ignite the record and lead it nicely into ‘Bridge’, a track that buries itself in post-hardcore goodness, enhancing the punk vibe of ‘Call It’ with and standing out slightly above the rest of the tracks on show here. Closing out ‘Midyear’ slows things down again a little towards the end, continuing the journeys between and alt-rock and indie.
The biggest positives about both the band and the record Into The Light are that in just six tracks you can get a true feeling for where the band want to go despite a huge amount of variation stored within it. Each of the songs feels like it has come from Into The Light but there’s no repetition and there’s no wasted space.