Brooklyn’s Common Sage has been occupying the space between emo, alternative rock, and post hardcore since introducing themselves with "Where Are You? I'm in Klamath Falls, Are You Here?" back in 2018. Since that time their sound has continued to evolve as the lineup has gone through some changes, and this was very evident on follow-up It Lives and It Breathes in 2021. That full length ran the spectrum of soft and aggressive, orienting itself towards sparser emo early on before offering some noticeably raw and louder post hardcore as you got further in. The band’s been a bit quieter on the release front since then, with a new song trickling out in September of last year alongside another song back in June. Common Sage has compiled these tracks alongside a new one titled “Rituals”, and released them as the Nostos | Algos EP. This time around the sound is much more post hardcore focused with dips into alternative and even a bit of space rock, and with a much fuller sound it seems to be hinting at just where the group is headed by the time another album comes around.
What’s immediately noticeable as you press play is the big, booming sound that Common Sage now has. That’s not to say that the group had bad production previously, but compare the full and towering melodies of “Hiraeth” to the sparser initial guitar work and rawer tone of “Daydream” from It Lives and It Breathes and you can hear a real difference. The layers on “Hiraeth” build naturally, opting for slower and exploratory melodies early on before reaching explosive peaks that bring in a bit more of that post hardcore style aggression. There’s still some emo here, but the primary approach comes off as much more post hardcore with some early to mid-2000s alternative rock melodies added in to give things a more dynamic feel. “Edin” shifts gears again towards shimmering guitar leads that sound like a cross between Failure and Thursday, which makes sense considering Thursday guitarist Steve Pedulla is featured as a guest. It’s a high energy and nostalgic track that pushes Common Sage into slightly different territory than some of their past material, and the hooks here are so strong that you’ll likely hit the repeat button a few times after that initial listen. Both tracks were released previously so there’s a chance if you’ve been following this group that they’ve already gotten plenty of airtime, making “Rituals” the main new focus on Nostos | Algos. “Rituals” opts for a slower and dreamlike cadence, with melodies that seem to wash over you. This softer approach has more of an emo and even some alternative/pop elements to it, but it fits what Common Sage is going for on the other two songs. It didn’t stick with me quite as much as the high energy ones, but I could see some slower breaks like this adding a lot to the middle of a future full length.
Vocalist/guitarist Julian Rosen has remained the one constant throughout Common Sage’s shifting lineup, and he continues to bring a combination of somber and mellower singing to the material. Admittedly a big component of “Hiraeth” and “Edin” are the guest vocalists that are included, as the former has Further Seems Forever’s Jason Gleason and the latter features Thursday’s Geoff Rickly, but they work in tandem with Rosen and the rest of the band rather than overshadowing them. “Hiraeth” sticks towards the softer end of the spectrum with airier and reflective singing that builds into some screaming by the end, while “Edin” shakes things up the most with spoken word and sung/screamed passages that make sense considering Rickly’s inclusion. Like the instrumental approach, the vocals have lost a little bit of their rawness from the last album and even the screaming has a fuller and slightly more polished sound. Depending on your tastes this may be seen as a positive or negative change, but I thought Common Sage pulled it off here and made effective use of their guests.
For a three-track EP that is just under ten minutes, I’ve gotten quite a bit of mileage out of Nostos | Algos. It finds Common Sage heading a bit more towards the fuller sound of 2000s emo/post hardcore and alternative rock with some hints of other 90s and 2000s rock genres and moving slightly away from some of the stripped-down approaches of their previous full lengths. It’s an interesting evolution that suggests even more exploration by the time another album comes out, and while “Rituals” may be slightly underwhelming on a closer this type of track would definitely fit well on a longer effort. Hopefully it won’t be too long until we hear where Common Sage goes from here, as the future seems bright. Nostos | Algos is available from Equal Vision Records.
-Review by Chris Dahlberg