Sprints : All That Is Over
All That Is Over is a record whose crowning glories are two-fold. Packed with as many flowering slow-burns as it is rapid-fire spears of sonic rage, Sprints’ sophomore release showcases an exhilarating, urgent and disemboweling honesty, but does so in a way that transcends a sense of effortlessness and lands on something even more remarkable: fun.
Sprints sound heavier than they ever have done before on songs like “Descartes,” whose relentless, discordant riff carries the track not too far from something like nu-metal territory. The wailing chaos of the guitars and the forthright, pummeling drums on “Need”—a deeply sardonic diatribe from singer Karla Chubb that takes incendiary exception to a review of the band that contained needless commentary on her appearance—makes the tune fun, fiery, and thrillingly irreverent. The closing act of the track “Something’s Gonna Happen” is dominated by mighty gang vocal chants, so gloriously fierce and vibrant that it captures the all-encompassing heat and power of an electric, riotous live show.
All That Is Over is by no means one-note, though, with plenty of time dedicated to songs that build up more slowly; spacey post-punk opener “Abandon,” for example, blurs echoes with poetry as it takes a far more subtle—but never sedate—journey toward the exact same kind of spiritual intensity that is captured on the album’s more aggressive tracks. The same is true of “To The Bone,” its spidery, sinister riff carrying an unnerving softness toward a thunderclap of a climax—dark, heavy guitars that crash and shatter the spooky serenity, and then evaporate again as quickly as they appear. And a number of songs shift into genres that don’t neatly fit into a loud/quiet dichotomy at all, like the soothing, melodic haze of “Better,” or the blinking synths and disco beats that make an appearance in “Beg.”
Sprints exhibit something of a Midas touch toward just about every style they attempt on this record, and that’s not even the most impressive thing about it. Whatever the music is doing on All That Is Over, it rests on such a powerful foundation of emotional energy that pulses so brightly, so intensely, that it can’t help but burst through out of each and every song, whether it’s eerie, bleak, and whispered, or screaming, adolescent punk rock fuzz.
At its core, All That Is Over is concerned with not just experiencing but maintaining a bright, scorching, primal sense of humanity within yourself, despite the demoralizing horrors that might lie in the world beyond. Since it not only conveys the band’s own scintillating internal driving force, but is also brimming with enough vigor and passion to ignite the same feeling in their listeners, it’s a double success.
Label: Sub Pop
Year: 2025
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Sprints : All That Is Over
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