New Jersey post-hardcore quintet Vanish produce a dramatic, cathartic fusion of emo, pop-punk, and metalcore tropes, as heard on their 2019 debut album Familiar Faces. The band was formed in August 2016 in Old Bridge, New Jersey by vocalist Patrick Hamilton, guitarists Bobby Miller and Justin Beacham, bassist Jack Hinson, and drummer Nick Perrone. The members had known one another for years and had played together before in various formations, influenced by big local Jersey names like Senses Fail, My Chemical Romance, and Armor for Sleep. While most of their contemporaries fell into either the lighter pop-punk or heavier metalcore camps, they attempted to develop a sound that straddled the divide. Their early singles "Only in My Head" and "Dead" tended more toward the metallic, but by the time their debut EP, From Sheep to Wolves, was released in July 2017 by Outerloop Records, they had created a more dramatic, emotional style, with more melodic parts to balance out the breakdowns and make the most of Hamilton's high-pitched voice. The EP caught the attention of Hopeless Records, which signed the band in 2018 and released their debut full-length album, Familiar Faces, early the following year. Heralded by the single "Role Play," it featured some of their most melodic, accessible work to date. ~ John D. Buchanan, Rovi