Free Throw Deliver At Their Best With ‘Moments Before The Wind’

Nashville’s own emo rockers Free Throw have returned with their sixth studio album, with ‘Moments Before the Wind’. This marks their first release since 2023’s ‘Lessons That We Swear to Keep’. It dives back into a lot of what makes this band as genuine as they’ve always been, but adding in bigger choruses and keeping the gut-wrenching lyrics. It’s a testament to this band being around for over a decade, and to release this one as the emo renaissance is in full effect right now. 

This album does an excellent job at balancing the different sides and moods of this band, to where the pacing feels almost seamless as the record plays. You get energetic, big tracks like “The Outlaw Star” and “A Hero’s Grave” to really draw in the listener. But you also get slower and gloomier tracks like “Floaroma Town” and “For Those Who Come After” to paint quite the atmosphere in this record in a really beautiful way. You also get a mix of the two to really feel like this band drawing inspiration from a band like Hot Mulligan in tracks like “The Need for a Post-Credits Scene” and “Mike Nolan’s Long Weekend”. It really shows that they don’t stop showing people why they’ve been around for over a decade in the genre. 

The melodies throughout this record I would say are this band’s best to date. Cory Castro does a wonderful job at being the aggressive emo vocalist when he needs to be, but also be lowkey and throw in falsetto when the song calls for it as well. The instrumentals on this album do such heavy lifting as it progresses, as it really showcases the environment we’re in across 11 songs. Lawrence Warner really shines on a lot of these songs, as the guitar plays such a pivotal role in these tracks. Zach Hall really is the unsung hero as well. The drums can be so monstrous at times, but also so subtle and simple in other moments. Cory really brings yet more lyrical genius on this whole album, especially in the penultimate track with “This Dollar General Store Ain’t Gonna Rob Itself”. The lyrics do such a great job at feeling like it’s a rainy day, and capture that pure gloom throughout.

Free Throw have really put out their best album since their debut, with ‘Moments Before the Wind’. It captures a lot of what people love about this band, but in a really refined and varietal way that makes them feel bigger. They’re here to stay yet again, and fans of the genre will welcome this record with open arms.