Free Throw

Lessons That We Swear To Keep, the fifth full-length record from Nashville emo-punk outfit Free Throw, opens with a five-second haze of violin-like feedback before it hits the ground at a sprint: a thick, overdriven guitar, drums, and bass all slam in together with tight bursts and a bright guitar lead dancing behind the wall of sound. “It’s so crazy that as you’re aging, somehow things become so complicated,” vocalist and guitarist Cory Castro groans to start the record’s first verse. 

This opener, “A Part is Better Than Zero,” is electric with tension and desperation. Screamed backing vocals and harmonies layer atop Castro’s perfectly-strained roar, and guitars at the edge of fuzz-chaos flicker and rip across dizzying leads. Zach Hall’s drums are furious and precise. Both lyrically and sonically, the song is a sort of thesis statement for a thrilling, thunderous 38-minute LP that’s part-classic Free Throw, part-something new entirely.