Standstill

Memories Collector (Silverthree)
by Tim Den

Spain’s Standstill make one helluva U.S. debut with Memories Collector, a jagged redefinition of Refused’s The Shape of Punk to Come. Like the influential Swedish post-hardcore unit’s swansong, Memories Collector punctures walls of DC-core guitars with mellodica, upright bass, voice samples, and meditative interludes. Explosive post-hardcore laced with lapses of tranquillity, Standstill present song after song of unpredictability, harnessed into Fugazi-worthy seizures. Opener “Ride Down the Slope,” by far the album’s best moment, pushes trumpets and a throaty vocal melody into a beautiful collision, leaving the listener both adrenalized and shocked. Its catchy chorus is only matched by the bloody-knuckle urgency with which it’s delivered.

Elsewhere, “Not the Place” juxtaposes some damn groovy tempo changes, “Dead Man Picture” offers a rare moment of harmony, and “Airplane” closes out the album with an eerie acoustic lament. While the album takes a few listens to sink in, there’s no doubt that Memories Collector is a slaved-over production of post-hardcore’s spirit of stretching the boundaries. An exploration well worth its results.
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