One Step Closer's earliest music was a part of the
youth crew revival of the 2010s, with music largley inspired by
Turning Point. By the 2020s, they had shifted their sound towards
melodic hardcore. Their influences were Turning Point,
Inside Out,
Title Fight,
Blink-182,
Green Day,
Have Heart,
Bane,
Sunny Day Real Estate,
the Get-Up Kids,
Box Car Racer,
the Cure and
Mineral.
Upset Magazine writer Rob Mair described their music of this era as merging "
classic DC emo with youth crew passion and late 90s melodic hardcore approachability to create a sound inspired by hardcore's past but beholden to no single scene." At this time, they made use of elements of
indie rock, and
emo. At this time, their influences were
Basement, Title Fight,
Deftones,
Jawbreaker,
Oasis,
True Widow,
Failure,
the Smashing Pumpkins,
Rival Schools,
the Cure and
Mock Orange. Of this era, Savitzki said that the members "have always been leaning into the emo-core sound. We are finally taking the bigger step into what we’ve been wanting to do for a while now."
Punknews noted the album as similar to the emo and
screamo artists involved in
the wave. == Members ==