Album Review: Tonight Alive – Limitless
2 min read
Limitless is the third studio album from pop-punkers Tonight Alive and this time around, they’ve thrown away the album creation formula, to create something that’s enchanting and raw. These 13 tracks are a true musical representation of the journey that Tonight Alive have been on, and how their experiences have prompted this new chapter – their evolution.
Introducing you to the revived Tonight Alive sound is the transcendent To Be Free, aided by a slight vocal distort and an interchanging rhythm it’s symbolic of their sound progression, and the mould they broke to get here. With the chanting of “I’m limitless”, ultimately representing the power that this band has. But Oxygen and Human Interaction are where this material truly enters a new zone, with their haunting synth and a pleading urgency, to get their message across. And it’s this sound which is harder to appreciate, it’s a very distinctive aesthetic that needs to grow on you. But you’ll certainly find yourself with Drive stuck in your head long after listening, with it’s infectious chorus which feels like a happy medium of sound, a bridge that connects past to present.
But no Tonight Alive album is complete without the belters that invoke angst and passion, kicking up the volume and pace with How Does It Feel?. Sinister riffs and a frantic beat build up the opening line, “Waking up to a nightmare, how the hell did I get here?” and the track only grows from here on out, thriving with energy. And of course, we have multiple anthems of sorts, albeit done with an uplifting twist. Power Of One, I Defy and We Are all invoke good vibes through their gritty power and inspiring lyrics, spreading power and self love. These tracks serve as quite the grand flourish, before everything slowed and stripped down for closing number The Greatest, as front woman Jenna McDougall boasts more self love, angelically serenading, “Here I am the greatest” over some subtle chords and melody. With this album Tonight Alive certainly prove that they are in fact, Limitless.
