7/10

There’s something exhilarating about a band that can sound completely unhinged and heartbreakingly precise at the same time. That’s the paradox at the heart of 'More Than It Leaves You With', the debut EP from Manhattan trio egret, a post-hardcore outfit who wear their scars like armour and turn emotional chaos into something close to transcendence.

Across five blistering tracks, egret build a sound that feels like it’s collapsing under its own intensity, and somehow that collapse becomes cathartic. Their music is a tightly coiled fusion of screamo’s frayed nerve endings and pop-punk’s melodic instincts, crashing between extremes without ever losing a sense of purpose. It’s the sound of grief cracking open and a band daring to map what’s left after everything has been taken.

Lead single 'Aperture' opens with jagged riffs and frantic drums that barely seem to contain themselves before bursting into an anthemic chorus that aches with sincerity. It’s a dizzying balance of beauty and brutality, echoing the emotional contradictions at the EP’s core. While the closer 'Anechoic' trades aggression for a hollowed-out space where post-rock textures meet the ghost of melody, recalling the cinematic anguish of La Dispute or the slow-motion heartbreak of Low Roar.

egret’s influences run deep, but what makes this release remarkable is how it refuses imitation. There are traces of Alexisonfire’s grit and Mineral’s introspection, but the trio twist those touchpoints into a sound uniquely their own.

Lyrically, 'More Than It Leaves You With' captures the quiet devastation of endurance, what it costs to keep showing up when life keeps taking. In their urgency, egret find a strange, liberating clarity that even when everything feels lost, the act of screaming it out might be what saves you.