"The Jaws of Life" By Peirce The Veil

Sometimes it’s a hard realization to know that Pierce the Veil (PTV) is by far your most listened-to artist of all time. I have been a die-hard fan since the age of 10 and they have definitely changed the course of my life. I would probably be normal if my ears remained virgin to the piercing voice of lead vocalist, Vic Fuentes. But I would never change a thing. I am passionate about the genre and this band – I have come to terms with that. My loved ones accept me for who I am. 

I know this review is for no one on this campus, but maybe 5 of you. However, for those who care about my oddly in-depth thoughts on the new Pierce the Veil album, The Jaws of Life, this is for you. It’s not new for PTV to make their fans wait years for new songs. It was four years between their critically acclaimed third studio album, Collide with the Sky, and the second most recent album, Misadventures. However, they made us wait seven years for this new selection of songs. A lot has changed in seven years Vic… I graduated high school and I am one semester away from graduating college. For you, you’re now happily married and, frankly, it shows. 

Sorry for addressing that to just Vic, but there are things I need to say to him. I feel slightly wronged. I have NEVER been against a band changing their sound and maturing. I have fully supported the transitions of Paramore and Bring Me the Horizon. In fact, I want a band to change (I am OUTWARDLY calling out The 1975 right now), but for the better. I found Misadventures to be a great pivotal point for the sound of the band. It felt like a genuine maturing from Collide with the Sky (2012) and Selfish Machines (2010). It was leaning further away from the genre of post-hardcore which they helped define, but it was not drifting into the current alternative-pop territory – think Twenty one pilots, Coldplay, or Melanie Martinez. 

The Jaws of Life, though, is almost exclusively alt-pop. I am not trying to knock the genre as I think it has its merits, but I am not ecstatic about the direction they take within the umbrella of the genre. This is a ballad album. There is no way to skirt around that fact. It’s dramatic, which is not new by any means for PTV since they have always leaned into the hyperbolic nature of the subject matter of depression, heartbreak, desire, etc. However, all the songs feel genuinely musical theater-esque– most notably, to me, on the title track. I can perfectly picture this in a rock opera. I don’t even mind that, but what they are doing is boring. I would be so down for a PTV rock opera if they at least attempted something new. 

The album opens with Death of An Executioner, which instantly reminded me a bit of an older Panic at the Disco song with an almost circus-like  drum circle crescendo into a more familiar sound of heavier drums and piercing guitar. Its momentum falls flat though once vocals kick in – it is far from hardcore and feels like a distilled version of a Collide with the Sky song. At the minimum, though, it gives the audience a false hope that this album will just be a less intense Misadventures. Fine. I can deal with that, but it’s not even that. I should’ve known because of the teasing tracks… Throughout this whole release, they have been toying with us by initially releasing Pass the Nirvana, arguably their most ‘traditional’ PTV song. They quickly pivoted from that though with the following release of Emergency Contact and Even When I’m Not With You. These songs are stacked neatly one after the other on the complete album. 

Emergency Contact quickly became one of my favorites on the album to my surprise. I wasn’t incredibly into it as a single, but in the context of everything else… It was a stand-out with Pass the Nirvana. Emergency Contact is a song that a generic pop-punk band would come out with, but it’s successful in its attempt to just be catchy. It suffers, though, with bad lyrics like the rest of the album. I may be jaded with nostalgia and just an overall love of the band, but I think Vic does have a way with words. I love much of his earlier lyrics, however, “Therapy is tiring/ But so is hiding how you feel/ You can bring the villainy/ And I can bring the sex appeal” does nothing for me. It feels lifeless. I think that is the thesis of this review. This album is slightly soulless and not in the way Brendan Urie is making music, but it feels like Vic is trying so hard to relate to emotions he had in the past that he no longer identifies with. It all comes across as distant which is something PTV fans have never felt. The whole reason people flock to the band is for the raw and emotional way of dealing with otherwise overwhelming and intangible feelings. 

That being said, I still enjoy the album – as it does actually sound good. I think Flawless Execution is genuinely a good song. The vocals are the most interesting thing we get on the track as we rarely hear Vic sing with a more muted tone. I also enjoy the more synth-driven and programmed drums instrumentation. This is all probably due to the dramatic shift in members after Mike Fuentes, the drummer, was accused of sexual misconduct and quickly removed from Pierce the Veil. As one of the two founding members, this would cause quite a rift in their music. This also might have made the band more vulnerable to outside influence from producers. Paul Meany is the main producer of the album, and I think it shows. He has been credited with producing projects like Twenty-one Pilots’ Trench. I genuinely enjoyed that album as it felt like a real maturing in sound. However, I can feel that influence on these tracks. It seems that Meany focuses on a middle ground between intense pop and traditional emo or hardcore. Objectively, a cool premise for projects. I don’t blame him for the letdown of this album, but I think he could be a large reason for the lack of classic PTV tropes: slick guitar riffs, strong screaming vocals, quick instrumentation, etc.

One of my least favorite tracks on the project is Shared Trauma. It is the farthest PTV has gotten from the ‘traditional’ sound. I mean, I almost don’t know where to start with it. The lyrics are laughably bad, which I feel mean saying because I imagine they were written genuinely. BUT, what is this? “Cause we share trauma and as we share trauma/ It takes it to break it, woah/ We share trauma and nothing's ever gonna erase it/ So face it” I won’t even break that down for you because it hurts me physically. The saving grace of the track is the bridge which has droning vocals that I can get behind. They ride a nice line between soft, cathartic, and emotional. However, one track with NO saving grace is the closing track of the album, 12 Fractures. I actually liked the second to last track, So Far So Fake. There is nothing incredibly stand-out about it, but I would’ve been happy to end there. No, they just had to go one step further. We didn’t ask for a feature from Chloe Moriondo. I mean, genuinely, no one ever asked or wanted that. The vocals are lazy and the instrumentals are even more so. It’s a pop song. A bad pop song. Chloe actually has better vocals than Vic, which is not saying much as I find her boring. She offers almost nothing new or creative to her side of the pop genre. She has successfully dragged Pierce the Veil over there with her. 

While we're on the topic of things I hate - On the song, Resilience, why does Vic pronounce the word “Re-silly-ance”? Genuine question. I liked the song – it’s catchy and has a great sounding hook, but I couldn’t deal with the crazy choice to say it in that way. Also, we have to address the Irrational Fears - Interlude. What is the point of it? It’s 21 seconds of an airplane announcement. What are you warning us about? Oh, of the intense cringing feeling I will have in my whole body as I hear both Shared Trauma and 12 Fractures? Okay, fair, I did need a warning. 

I’m gonna stop there because I could probably go on for another 3 pages, but what good does that do? I know this review comes across as harsh because it is. Maybe it’s wrong of me to hold a band to a standard, but I hope it only shows how much I care. I’ve been invested in this band since I was 10. That’s 12 years of very consistent listening. I’ve met the band. I’ve seen them live. They have been a staple of my life, and I know that is slightly embarrassing. I just care. I don’t expect them to change their sound back to what we are used to, but I do hope to see a bit more familiarity in future projects, or at minimum a few more risks. All that said, I’ll listen to anything they put out, and I’ll continue to listen to their old albums. Nothing will take away the enjoyment I get from A Flair for the Dramatic, Selfish Machines, Collide with the Sky, and Misadventures. Hell, I’ll even continue to stream The Jaws of Life. Once a fan, always a fan – I guess.

For your viewing pleasure.