SONG REVIEW: The Neverafter - "Beautiful Portraits (Feat. Richard Rogers of Secrets)
The Neverafter hits the feels with their emotionally driven new single, “Beautiful Portraits”
by Jesse Smith
I think it is pretty wild that a lot of the bands coming out today stay modern and give you nostalgia all at the same time. Right now there is a boom of bands mixing Alternative Rock and Emo/Post Hardcore, but there are a handful of bands that can make that sound really good. If you don’t know what i’m talking about, listen to The Neverafter’s new single “Beautiful Portraits”. The Chicago based band has nailed the Post-Hardcore sound and style and kept to the 2009 roots all at the same time!
The band consists of some members from bands such as Erabella, Serianna, Fools' Brew and Capture The Crown, so it was no surprise that the first thing I noticed was how well the song was structured! Every verse acts as a build up to the chorus. The drums are the highlight of the verses giving a “4 to the floor” or a punchy drive which really backs the vocals a lot. The choruses are where the magic is though. A chorus that is fit for a radio, it really shows the band’s musical talent as a whole. Keeping it catchy so that it will stay in your head all day.
The main focus and highlight of this song for sure is the lyrics. When I said the structure of the song was top tier, I meant that you can tell the music is written to really highlight the lyrics and make them the driving point. I mean seriously, with emotional lyrics like these, you HAVE too. For example the last lines in the chorus are “Her beautiful portraits are wasting away, just leave me here in our splintered picture frame”. You can see how heartfelt and emotionally driven this song is and vocalist Connor Rennels delivers that in his performance as well. The music has the head bobbing and keeps you engaged while setting up the groove and melody for the vocals to be in the forefront without being lost. This song also features Richard Rogers of Secrets which was a perfect touch, giving this song that little boost into the higher notes and really creating depth to the song. It is also worth mentioning that where they put Richard’s part, after a chorus, kept the song moving and took it to a new level in all fronts.
Good songs are easy to listen to, easy to groove to, and have something distinct you are trying to get across to the listener. Beautiful Portraits capture all of these points and is a very solid song that Alt Rock and Post Hardcore fans should have on repeat.I am excited to see what the band has to offer given this is their 2nd release. The Neverafter has potential to be a household name in the scene and “Beautiful Portraits” is the start to something… well Beautiful!