Let them loose and let them fucking fly.

Snag have been operating in Milwaukee's DIY underground since forming in 2016, building a sound around screamo, heavy emo, post-hardcore, noise, and emotionally charged punk. All The Cages Holding Us Will One Day Turn To Dust is their first release through Deathwish Inc., and it finds the trio stretching their sound without losing the rough edges that made their earlier material compelling. The band's description of the record as both punishing and soft, heavy and beautiful, is pretty damn accurate. They can move from frantic screaming and blast beats into piano, horns, layered harmonies, and softer guitar passages without making the transitions feel like they're trying to become a completely different band. The biggest issue is that the production doesn't always capture the full force of what they're playing, particularly when everything gets fast and dense.

“Unarrest Me” throws you straight into that collision between aggression and atmosphere. Abrasive guitars, frantic percussion, screaming vocals, and a rhythm section that sounds like it's constantly trying to outrun itself create an immediate sense of panic. The drumming is fucking ridiculous, with rapid-fire patterns and fills packed into the arrangement, while the bass provides a surprisingly controlled foundation underneath the chaos. Unfortunately, the mix pushes some of those details into the background, meaning you can hear the ambition without always feeling the full impact.

The guitar work deserves more attention because there is a lot happening underneath the noise. Snag use dissonant chords, unusual movement, scrappy textures, and mathy rhythmic ideas without turning the songs into exercises in technical showing-off. “Debilitated” and “Foam Cup, Pt. 3” are good examples of how the guitars create tension rather than simply heaviness. They twist and scrape around the rhythm section, making the songs feel unstable without ever becoming completely directionless.

“Juneberry” reveals a completely different side of the band. Gentle guitars, layered vocals, horns, and pedal-steel-like textures create something almost mournful and Americana-inspired. It's a major shift from the opening aggression, but it doesn't feel forced. The quieter arrangement gives the song room to breathe, and the production actually works in its favor because the distance becomes part of the atmosphere. Instead of sounding like an intermission, “Juneberry” feels like another piece of the same emotional story.

That softer approach continues with “Whisper,” where distant vocals, fluid drumming, and restrained guitars create something fragile rather than violent. The drummer is still doing plenty underneath the surface, but the arrangement gives those details room to breathe. “Pray for Peace” then brings the intensity back with driving guitars, rapid drums, low vocals, and increasingly chaotic sections before eventually giving way to piano. That contrast is one of Snag's biggest strengths. They understand that a quiet passage can actually make the next explosion feel heavier.

“Paris, WI” takes the restraint even further. Piano, distant singing, and horns create an almost empty-room atmosphere, but there is still an uncomfortable feeling underneath it. Instead of using distortion to create tension, Snag use space. The silence and distance become part of the composition. It's a good example of how the band's softer material isn't simply there to provide variety; it gives the heavier songs more emotional context.

When “Debilitated” kicks the door back open, the contrast is obvious. The drums become frantic, the guitars turn jagged, and the vocals sound desperate rather than theatrical. The bass helps keep everything grounded while the guitars seem determined to pull the song apart. “Cages” continues that emotional intensity with a more direct attack, but the band avoid making the aggression feel generic because there is always another feeling underneath it: frustration, grief, fear, exhaustion, or desperation.

That's one of the things that makes All The Cages Holding Us Will One Day Turn To Dust work as an album rather than simply a collection of screamo songs. Snag's different influences actually affect the emotional pacing. “Juneberry” isn't just a country-leaning experiment. “Paris, WI” isn't simply a piano interlude. “Pray for Peace” doesn't use blast beats because the genre demands them. Each change shifts the mood and gives the record another perspective.

The bass is particularly effective when the mix lets it come forward. It has a cleaner, more focused tone than the guitars and acts as an anchor during the more chaotic sections. The drums are probably the strongest individual performance on the record, moving between rapid fills, blast beats, detailed kick patterns, and much more restrained passages without losing control. The problem is that the recording sometimes makes those performances feel smaller than they actually are.

The same applies to the vocals. The emotional commitment is obvious whether Snag are screaming or singing, and that desperation is one of the band's defining qualities. On the denser tracks, though, the vocals can become buried underneath the guitars and drums. When they come through clearly, the effect is immediate. “Juneberry,” “Whisper,” and “Paris, WI” prove that the band don't need to constantly push the vocals to the front, but the faster material could benefit from a little more presence.

The production is therefore my biggest frustration. Some of the washed-out quality works beautifully on the quieter songs, where the distance creates atmosphere. When the band are throwing everything at you at once, that same approach can make the music feel less powerful than it deserves to be. “Foam Cup, Pt. 3” is a perfect example of the musicianship getting buried slightly by the density. There are moments where you can tell the drummer is doing something insane, the guitars are moving in several directions, and the bass is holding everything together, but the mix doesn't always let those details punch through.

“Sunburn” handles the band's contrast in another way, settling into a groove before shifting the arrangement around it. Snag seem more interested in changing textures than simply repeating the same chorus with more distortion. That keeps the album unpredictable without making it feel random. “Shelf Life” also fits into that broader emotional framework, turning the record's ideas about confinement and pressure into something more personal.

The cage metaphor runs through the album in several forms: physical limitations, emotional isolation, environmental destruction, social pressures, and the feeling of being trapped inside your own circumstances. That gives the record's constant movement between tension and release another layer. The music often sounds like it's trying to escape something. Sometimes it breaks through. Sometimes it crashes straight back into the wall.

The final stretch is particularly effective because Snag resist the temptation to end with one giant explosion. The softer material allows the album to wind down rather than simply collapsing under its own weight. That restraint fits the record better than another enormous breakdown would have. After all the screaming, frantic drums, dissonant guitars, and emotional pressure, the quieter moments feel like exhaustion rather than resolution.

There are definitely weaknesses here. Some of the faster sections become difficult to separate in the mix, and a few arrangements could use slightly more focus. The production occasionally feels like something you have to fight through rather than something enhancing the performance. But I don't think the answer is simply making everything cleaner. The roughness is part of Snag's character. The problem is consistency: when the distance creates atmosphere, it works brilliantly; when it hides the musicianship, it becomes frustrating.

What I like most about All The Cages Holding Us Will One Day Turn To Dust is that Snag aren't afraid of contradiction. They can be violent without sounding empty, melodic without becoming soft, experimental without completely losing their identity, and vulnerable without sacrificing the aggression that drives their heavier material.

“Unarrest Me” gives you the chaos. “Juneberry” gives you the melancholy. “Pray for Peace” shows the band's ability to move between extremes. “Paris, WI” creates tension through silence. “Debilitated” and “Foam Cup, Pt. 3” show how much energy they can pack into their heavier arrangements, while “Whisper” proves they can pull everything back without losing emotional weight.

That's a pretty impressive range for one record.

I just wish the production consistently captured it.

Because underneath that slightly hazy mix is a band with a lot going on. The drumming is excellent, the guitars are constantly finding uncomfortable new shapes, the bass provides a strong foundation, and the vocals carry genuine emotional weight. More importantly, the quieter moments aren't filler. They're essential to understanding why the louder moments hit as hard as they do.

All The Cages Holding Us Will One Day Turn To Dust is messy, emotional, ambitious, and occasionally fucking beautiful. It doesn't always make the chaos easy to hear, but the chaos has purpose. Snag aren't simply trying to make loud music. They're using noise, melody, space, and contrast to explore what it feels like to be trapped, exhausted, angry, and still trying to find a way out.

The cages are there.

So is the escape route.

And when Snag let everything collide at exactly the right moment, they sound fucking compelling.

Rating 7/10