ALBUM REVIEW: Colorblind – ‘Who Sold You This Truth ++ Was It Yours To Hold’

You can tell almost immediately what Colorblind are aiming for, and that’s okay. Pristine, poppy post-hardcore is all the rage in this current year of 2016, so you can’t fault them for trying to fit among the in-crowd.

…wait, what? It’s 2026? …oh.

Yeah, that’s the major sticking point with Colorblind—when treated as a contemporary band, they fold at the merest suggestion of scrutiny. A six-track EP a year ago could (just about) get away with being catchy enough, but for a full album? Not even slightly so. That EP, Who Sold You The Truth, has been threaded in amongst this album’s tracklist (hence the name) and bloating it up to an unconscionable 15 tracks. Somehow, that makes the pre-existing songs seem all the worse. Did God Complex always sound like it was being played through a fan?

The point is, Colorblind aren’t impressing, and likely still wouldn’t had this come out in the heyday of Sleeping With Sirens and their ilk. There’s just no individual taste to this, or anything that feels like it could’ve come from Colorblind and no one else. Hardly a unique issue to them, granted, but doesn’t that make it worse? In a scene that’s been loaded with facsimiles from the beginning, there’s little to no hope of one this far to the rear doing anything. The fact even their EP’s smidgen of goodwill has been smothered and crushed says it all.

Realistically, that could be the end of the discussion. What more is there to say when Colorblind are already through the meat-grinder before even the album’s halfway mark? After all, they suffer with the same chronic problems that all the others do, beat for beat. Production is overbearing to where ‘post-hardcore’ is nomenclature assigned from pure obligation; there’s nothing interesting going on lyrically that makes the turmoil and relationship strife feel genuine; and frontman Travis Moseley is so clearly framed as ‘The Main One’ that the rest of the band could be replaced by plugins with no measurable difference. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before…

You can also tell it’s One Of These when its highlights aren’t even that good but at least have a bit of distinction to them. Misery Loves Company can edge out its neighbours by being a mite heavier, despite its upper limit being akin to an I Prevail gristle-slab. Later, Royal Blood tries to be slicker and sassier with a pronounced bass twang, until the formulaic chorus tarmacs over it. There’s a lot of plodders like that on here, with the intent to soar that never manifests. At best, Needle Eye is…fine; it’s catchier than average. Elsewhere, though, there’s the grinding, grunting pigswill that is Chemical Warfare, or the dozy murk of Neversleep, or Paradox and its lyrical anaesthetic of “How can I love myself when I’m my own worst enemy?”

To be fair, songwriting like that does put Moseley in his element. He’s already got the squeak of a young Kellin Quinn so why not give him cloying, platitudinous words to match? If there’s one thing that fully walls off Colorblind from being more in a full length capacity, it’s Moseley, as seeing how many of the usual haggard hoops he’s willing to jump through leave you feeling defeated. Would you believe there are songs about being unable to leave a toxic relationship in Car Crash, Let Down and Incomplete (among others)? Or how about battling your inner demons on Chemical Warfare and Paradox? The novelty! The inspiration!

Of course, to really hammer in how Colorblind are the too-late reincarnation of Sleeping With Sirens’ worst eras, there’s a couple of saccharine pop cuts that are utterly joyless in every way. The Countdown, amid acoustic guitars and the gooiest clouds of production yet, sees Moseley mewling about how unlucky in love he is, with no tangible emotionality to be seen. Then there’s Cynical, about a girl dealing with depression and self-doubt that the buried pianos are probably meant to make seem impactful and affecting. In reality, it’s conceptually and executionally dated, and is a real wet blanket of a closer.

And that’s Colorblind. They haven’t significantly changed from their EP—they’re still ignorable with no ideas of their own, and maybe a chorus that’ll hold a bit firmer if you’re lucky. And yet, when that’s expanded out and cast into much sharper focus on a full album…what even is there here? We’re a decade on from this stuff being anything close to relevant, and Colorblind are acting like there’s still a chance to make something of themselves. There isn’t.

For fans of: Sleeping With Sirens, Nevertel, Awaken I Am

‘Who Sold You This Truth ++ Was It Yours To Hold’ by Colorblind is released on 28th August on Solid State Records.

Words by Luke Nuttall