Music Review // The Splatter Pattern "While We Were Making Plans"

https://splatterpattern.bandcamp.com/album/while-we-were-making-plans

Right from the start you get a feel for how The Splatter Pattern will sound on "While We Were Making Plans".    There is a definite driving force of rock music, but it's a little bit like prog rock and can also lean towards the classic rock side as well.   There is a touch of modern to this sound though, so when you're listening to it you can feel like you're being taken back in time but its still grounded in the present.

Everything in these songs lyrically seems to stem from the idea of the title, "While We Were Making Plans", which is a reference to what went on during the pandemic.  So many people had plans- vacations, tours, weddings, etc- that were affected by a global shutdown.  Traveling is just getting back to what it used to be slowly, but it had certainly been a while since we could do those things which we had planned on doing.

Musically, this album reminds me most of The Who.  I can just hear it in the guitar work but also in the overall sound.   To some extent, this feels like it might be the type of album The Who would've made if they formed in the last few years instead of all those decades ago.   At the same time, this feels like it could be The Who plus some other influence which is more modern.   I'm not quite sure who that modern influence would be, but Blue October is in here at times.

The song "GIANTS" also has this way about it where it just sounds like it's in its own style overall but every once in a while it'll switch back to this dreamy, trippy type of guitar riff which makes me think of 311.    To think about what influences I hear within this album and how they're related but also might not play shows together, it shows the ways The Splatter Pattern can sound different at times but come together and form a united sound all their own.