With their third album, 2014's
Keep You, Baltimore post-hardcore outfit
Pianos Become the Teeth turned away from the screamo intensity of their prior two outings, compressing their catharsis into a more introspective and brooding kind of post-rock. It marked their debut for Epitaph and began a tonal sea change that continues on their 2018 follow-up,
Wait for Love. Working once again with post-genre super-producer
Will Yip (
Turnover,
Circa Survive,
Title Fight), the quintet deepens its commitment to a more melodic alt-rock approach while reintroducing a bit of the vigor from their earlier days. Frontman
Kyle Durfey remains in singing mode, widening the distance between the shredded screamo wails of 2011's powerhouse
The Lack Long After and making a strong case for himself as a dynamic and more nuanced vocalist. Standouts like "Charisma" and "Bitter Red" see
PBTT melding melodic, yet downcast songwriting with heavy, rhythmically propulsive arrangements. Likewise, "Dry Spells" and "Bloody Sweet" carry on in a similar vein and tempo, constituting the main thematic elements of
Wait for Love. A handful of slower cuts, like the murky "Bay of Dreams" and slow-building finale, "Blue," offer a change of pace on what overall plays out as a pretty dour set. The added aggression that was largely missing on
Keep You is doled out mostly during orchestrated peaks here and there, leaving the prevailing mood one of steadfast melancholic reflection. Midway through, the album is plagued by a sameness from which it never quite recovers. Maturing past their screamo years was a necessary endeavor, but on
Wait for Love,
PBTT feel a bit stuck in phase two.