Album Review: SPARTA - “Cut A Silhouette”
Written by: Rashid AlKamraikhi| Tuesday 26th May 2026
I Wouldn’t Change One Little Thing.
Cut A Silhouette is SPARTA’s sixth album, and it perfectly blends all the elements of the five albums preceding it to the point where, like the opening line of the lead single ‘Crater’, I wouldn’t change one little thing.
Having had the opportunity to speak to Jim (check out our interview HERE), it sounded very much like he wouldn’t either. Recorded over a whirlwind seven days, the short time in the studio belies the amount of love that was poured into the production of the album, and even more so, the creative gestation period of it’s songs, which saw a number of guests contribute towards their writing.
Regarding the production, the album sounds phenomenal, with every element of the record sounding polished, even the gritty parts. This is a testament to the care that J. Robbins took while capturing SPARTA’s vision, and taking all the different moods and feelings presented on the album, and helping to glue them all together into one congruent piece.
The biggest name amongst the album’s contributors is Frank Iero, of MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE fame, who helped to pen the aforementioned ‘Crater’ as well as, for what is my favourite track on the album, ‘Mouthbreather’. Its initial poppy bass line gives the track a vibe akin to THE KILLERS, before the song morphs around it into something brooding and melancholic. I asked Jim where the ‘Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.’ sample used at the end came from, and he explained that it was from a documentary film called Vernon, Florida that they had watched while working on the album. I tracked it down to discover that it was in a scene with a guy talking about his various turkey hunting conquests, while pointing towards the numerous ‘beard and feet’ trophies he had hanging on his wall. Creepy.
While Frank Iero doesn’t appear on the album other than in the writing credits, other contributors such as Kemble Walters, Adrian Borgeois, Brooks Harlan, Carlos Arévalo, and J. Robbins himself do. They all help to amplify the different facets of Sparta as a band, without taking anything away from the efforts of the core trio at the centre, who, along with Jim Ward, consist of bassist Matt Miller, and drummer Neil Hennessey.
Cut A Silhouette features many ebbs and flows throughout its playtime, but even with songs that veer towards softer, even folky territory, it never loses sight of the post-hardcore soul that is at the heart of the band. SPARTA’s main objective for this album was to create something that leaves an impression, and it is without a doubt something that they have achieved.
Cut A Silhouette will be available via EQUAL VISIONS/CIVILIANS on the 29th of May.
