La Dispute: The Sincerest Post-Hardcore Group of Our Generation.
I hate throwing around the term “post-hardcore”. It’s a term used to refer to bands that revolt against the norms of the “hardcore” genre, utilizing unconventional and experimental ideas to form their sound. Basically rebelling against the rebels; except these rebels (La Dispute) are smarter than you think.
Wildfire is La Dispute’s representative work. It marks their artistic peak, their masterpiece. Even if they release more successful albums, the immaculate quality of this album can never be smeared away from their track record. Wildfire is a brooding and artistically aggressive work of spoken-word poetry and raw music. This is an album that yells when it should. It builds walls of sound around you and takes them down brick by brick, not blowing the whole place up like many of the shallow artists associated with this genre. La Dispute keeps its composure in check with instrumentation and delivers spoken word lyrics like a contemporary Shakespearean apprentice of sorts. This is a defying album for the industry and the worst part is, it’ll probably go unnoticed.
Wildlife is something that has resulted from artistic suppression: suppression from past generations and especially the current one, where and how the hardcore genre has grown its niches and became lazy. Most importantly, what we, as consumers, expect from a product like this. And if there’s anything to remember about La Dispute, it’s the way they crack under pressure. From these pressure points do we meet the origins of what built this record.
I can recommend this album to anybody. From all the obscurities and artistic challenges La Dispute has come from, Wildfire can stand out like a gem for those who’ve followed these guys from the start and even newcomers to the sub-genre. It’s an ambitious, visceral, near-cinematic work of emotional intensity. Get ready for some eye-widening and goose-bump moments that are tough to shake off.
This album was my dad. (5/5)
