The Assembly Line - The Places We Leave Behind

Brooklyn's own The Assembly Line have released their latest EP titled The Places We Leave Behind. The effort is a rich and dynamic effort of straight forward rock rhythms mixed in with a sincere and upfront lyrical mindset that makes the band unique among their other contemporaries within the same genre.

We start things off with "Tonight (There's Only Us)", a downtempo, low key track that eloquently shows off the band's style and what they can bring to the musical table. Lead singer Thornfin Nguyen contributes a great deal to the band's musicality and sophistication that you can see and hear moving forward. "The Tide" has a terrific guitar melody brought forth by Chris Potter that represents a more upbeat and dynamic shift in musical tone that shows off a different facet of the band that we haven't experienced up until this point. "Photographs" is my favorite song off the album that features more shifting musical soundscapes and Thornfin's deep vocals contributing a great deal to this song that best evokes the musical qualities that represent this effort as a whole. We start to round things out with "Just Kids", an upbeat slice of pop-rock with a sunny disposition to it that brings about a wealth of diversity to a well rounded out album as we head into the disc's final track. "Empires" closes things out with a hard hitting song that shows off the band's wealth of diversity lying in their catalog, and you can see from the very first tune that there are varying degrees of tempos that strongly indicate the band are capable of handling anything thrown their way, and present it in a format that listeners can easily comprehend. I enjoyed the simplicity and straightforwardness that emanated so strongly from these guys, and I appreciated the way that they presented their musical works to the public without resorting to electronic methods of manipulation that would have otherwise distorted the clear musical assignment that these guys set on from the very beginning.

Overall, a great effort from The Assembly Line, who do things the right way here on an effort that shows their raw musical dexterity and truthfulness lyrically that will serve them well in the long run and make them stand out more from the other upstart bands currently out there today.

                                                                                                                             EP Score: 3.5/5

Track Listing:

1. Tonight (There's Only Us)
2. The Tide
3. Photographs
4. Just Kids
5. Empires