Did we expect them to do too much of the heavy lifting for us? Maybe we got too used to being read the narrative in advance. But for once, we’re on our own in piecing it together, and the chaos is still as awe-striking as it ever has been, if maybe all the more meticulous in its craft. For the last decade and a half, Touché Amoré have made sure to paint the picture behind each album cycle with motif. The torments of youth album. The adulting album. The existential crisis album. The grief album. The post-grief album.

But what make the Los Angeles post-hardcore veterans when they’ve covered pretty much all of the major talking points of emotional catastrophe at this stage in their career? Spiral In A Straight Line breaks the cycle with no one common thread running through it — although Jeremy Bolm does have a lot of big anxious thoughts on problems that don’t ever seem to go away as usual — but an apt working title for their sixth studio album could be Is Refined By. What we thought was the epitome of cohesion in their form of aggression on 2020’s Lament has only gotten more precise in its execution here.

You don’t really need to press your ear close through the screams and shouts to find those details either. Tighter hooks, razor sharp textures, and layered effects make softer turns remain heavy-weighted at the heart. Lou Barlow even enters the scene while Julien Baker cements her place as the band’s ringer for the devastating climax in moments that continue to push Touché Amoré’s art of hardcore evolution forward into expanded territory, if slightly but surely. Though its main character may continue to wrestle with their own perceived flaws, there are none to be found on the surface of this album’s sound.

Highlights: “Hal Ashby”, “Force of Habit”, “Subversion (Brand New Love)”

Touche Amore Spiral In a Straight Line will be released July 24th on Rise Records.

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