The Chorus Music Club Society • Page 217

Starting my first listen of Jack's Mannequin now, and also having input from the guy who sits next to me in the office who has an ear for certain things I don't.

 

I didn’t enjoy Everything in Transit as much as The Glass Passenger but it’s still good.

 

Interestingly, almost one listen through and I feel I have a rather good idea of how I feel about this album. I'll give it a while to stew though.

 

I’m the other way round I loved EIT but wasn’t as much a fan of TGP. I haven’t heard that album in years though so I might like it more nowadays.

 

I love both but EIT is a clear winner for me

 

Is that a giant man sized Furby on the cover?

 

While I’m on here I should probably post this:

Next week me and @nickyeatworld have been paired up.

They gave me 6 by the band [AMATORY] who are a metal band from Russia which should be cool to check out.

I gave them Questions and Answers by The Sleeping. Which was one of my favourite post-hardcore/emo albums back in the day, which I still think holds up pretty well.

 

@anonimito and I have figured out what we're exchanging for the upcoming session.

I will be listening to House of Heroes - Colors

They will be listening to Teenage Wrist - Chrome Neon Jesus

 

I LOVE the Sleeping! I also love their previous band skycamefalling.

 

I’ve never heard their previous band, I’ll have to see if I can hunt that down. I did Love Night Verses though.

 

@highfidelity203 gave me one I've meant to get to for years:

Brightwood - Wake

I truly have no idea how this band did not catch on. They're like a lost Copeland/As Cities Burn. Really good songs. Wonderful production. Just a great lost emo/scene record. In particular, the last two songs are not just highlights of the album, but of the era. Boy, do I wish they had other albums.

 

Creeper
Eternity, In Your Arms
2017



This week I had the pleasure of being paired with the CMCS founding father @JediMasterKevo182 for a third time. One of the two albums that he assigned to me was Creeper's 2017 album Eternity, In Your Arms.

I was familiar with Creeper prior to this session as I'd heard their 2015 and 2016 EPs, but I had never gotten around to listening to Eternity, In Your Arms. This album is their debut full-length album (in addition to their 2015 and 2016 EPs they also had an EP in 2014). I know that this album has been reviewed in this thread already, but for those not familiar with Creeper, they are a six piece band out of England that can be classified as horror punk/punk rock for the most part. The members of the band are Will Gould (vocals), Ian Miles (guitar), Hannah Greenwood (keyboard, vocals), Sean Scott (bass), Dan Bratton (drums), and Oliver Burdett (guitar). I did a bit of background research prior to listening to the album and I found that this album is loosely categorized as a concept album. I'll be quite honest in saying that I would not have gathered that on my own (and I still don't really see it).

The album starts off with one of my favorite tracks, Black Rain, which has about a 40 second long spoken intro before launching into the track. The pre-chorus definitely gives off heavy My Chemical Romance vibes, and this tracks chorus is very catchy and anthemic. I really like how the vocals are layered. The second track, Poison Pens, is a faster and heavier track that features yelled backing vocals and another catchy chorus. Two tracks into the album it's very apparent that this band knows how to write a hook. I'm not going to go track-by-track here but I will touch on some of the album's other highlights.

The fourth track, Hiding With Boys, uses the "gang vocals" technique really well during the bridge. The next track, Misery, is another one of my favorites on the album. I had heard it prior to this session as it was the one song from this album that appeared on a prior EP, but it's very deserving of being on this full-length as well. It's the slowest track up to this point of the album and it's pretty much a ballad until the final minute when the song comes to a climax. The song Crickets was another standout track on the album to me. This song is an acoustic track with Hannah Greenwood providing the lead vocals. For the most part Will Gould takes the vocal lead on each track and Hannah provides backing vocals, but it was nice to hear a song that featured her. Darling is another one of my favorite tracks on the album, probably because it gives off a heavy Alkaline Trio vibe (and I'm a big fan of Alkaline Trio).

The penultimate track, Winona Forever, features a catchy bridge and some lyrics that I enjoyed:

And it's breaking me to see you so happy
I just want the worst for you

The album's final track, I Choose To Live, is a very slow song for the first 2 minutes until its uplifting and moving final minute. Some of the lyrics here also stood out to me:

Some days I feel like crying, and I know you feel that too
But life don't seem as dark when I sing with you

All in all, this album is a pretty impressive debut from a band that appears to have a very bright future ahead of them. There are a few tracks that haven't really made much of an impression on me yet, but they may grow on me after further listens. I appreciated songs like Misery, Crickets, and I Choose To Live because they are a bit different musically from the other tracks on the album and it keeps the album from feeling a bit monotonous.

To sum up my favorite tracks: Black Rain, Misery, and Darling.

I would recommend this album to fans of My Chemical Romance, Alkaline Trio, and AFI. It's a quick listen at 11 tracks and 36 minutes in length.

One last note - tomorrow (March 24) is this album's one year anniversary! Go and listen to it!

 

Awesome review man! I had a feeling you’d like this one even before I knew you’d heard the EPs.

 

Good to see Creeper is doing the rounds in here

Great review @bachna84 I found concept too be very loose on the album. They fleshed it out a bit on their tour last December even having the James Scythe character and the girl who does the intro out on stage. I can’t comment on the tour too much though as I missed it due to being really ill at the time

If you get the chance to see them live though do it as they’re ridiculously good.

Black Rain, Room 309 and Winona are my favs on the album. I’m actually not massive on Darling myself as I feel it sounds too much like Will is doing an Alk3 tribute.

 

Seen these guys 6 times, in both a 200 cap just under two years back to an arena recently and I'm absolutely 100% in love with these guys. It makes me happy that the "next big" pop punk band (in the UK at least) is actually one with talent, ambition, AN ACTUAL REAL WOMAN (shock, I know) and a fantastic visual aspect.

The album is great, although I miss some of the more "goth" elements on their EP's which reminded me of early MCR or Alkaline Trio. I love the strange meatloaf aspects and how they mix with their gothy and pop punk elements and never feel shoehorned in. Alongside that, seeing them on their headline tours, they put in so much more effort than any band out there. They even held a "funeral" (concert) for three old songs where they had pallbearers, coffins, etc.

This was probably in my top 3 last year alongside The Menzingers and Tigers Jaw so I'm glad to see people enjoying them.

 

I got a bit of a Meatloaf vibe a couple times! I’m glad that it’s not just me :)

 

Great band. The love antidote ep was also quite excellent.

 

@sophos34 gonna be super late with my reviews this week, sister is in town and then I'm out of town for a few days too

 

@Nate_Johnson and I agreed to a bonus trade! Here's the album he recommended to me!





Jason Richardson: I

I actually had a bit of an idea of what to expect with this album - I'd heard a couple of Jason Richardson's tracks before (thanks to Nate), and I knew that I was in for some excellent, complicated (in a good way) guitar playing. I also figured this album would be mostly instrumental, and it is.

The instrumentation was breathtaking! Obviously, it is very guitar-heavy, and the drums were amazingly stunning and complicated as well (as a drummer, it was something to truly appreciate). I also picked up some piano and strings, and what I think was a bit of synths, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was actually a guitar somehow. Just like the David Maxim Micic album I reviewed previously, there are many complex layers/parts, which is what I always look for in this kind of music. On the other hand, there weren't as many slow or quiet parts, so this was a vastly different album. It was very powerful and energizing. In fact, I have half a mind to go running to this sometime, but I might just pass out while doing so.

The vocals (guests: Spencer Sotelo one one track and Lucas Magyar & Mark Holcomb on the other) appeared on two tracks, and they were pretty good - the screaming was a bit off-putting, but nothing too over-the-top from Spencer. The lyrics were good, from what I could determine after a few listens.

I think that some people may find this kind of music a bit chaotic or too "busy." However, with my background (I listen to music like this every now and again), I quite enjoyed it and I found it mentally stimulating. However, due to this, it has a time and place - I certainly wouldn't listen to this while trying to relax.

"Omni" is the opener, and it really gets the listener ready for what they're about to hear. It starts out relatively tame and then picks up the pace quite a bit! I kept getting the visual of a runaway train when I heard this song. "Titan" is a bit "spacey" in places, which made it really cool and unique. It also had a few parts that reminded me of video game music (not at all a bad thing). "Retrograde" had the guest vocalist (Spencer), and was a nice, fast-paced track that reminded me of the band Icarus the Owl in places. "Hos Down" had a lot of different parts. At points, it was relatively quiet and almost "spacey", then it reminded me of something I would hear at a "hoedown" in places, and then it switched gears drastically to go back to the usual feel of the album (rock/metal), only to come back with a really jazzy feel. Very cool! "Mirrors" reminded me of a carnival at times, and I'm fairly certain that was intentional. Having the "rock" parts mixed with the "carnival" parts throughout the song was a really unique effect. "Tonga" is the second-shortest song on the album, but it holds its own next to the longer tracks. So many cool parts and effects were included. "Thot 2.0," on the other hand, is the longest track on the album. It starts with a bit of piano, and after a short introduction, it picks up significantly. There are a couple shorter passages where the tone changes a lot (I found this really cool), and it even slows down further to reveal a rather delicate part with...harp? Too cool! Then it returns to the main theme. "Fragments" also had guest vocals, and the "clean" vocals were very good. Musically, it was just as strong as the rest of the album. "Breaking Damnation" has such amazingly fast drumming (and guitars, of course) - too cool! "XV" is the shortest track on the album. It begins very calmly with some lovely piano and strings, and then the guitar comes in to join them. Even though it picks up a bit toward the end, it is a relatively tame track throughout. "Chapter II" is very dramatic, and is a fitting closer for the album. It has parts that are more "spacey" in nature as well as faster "rock/metal" parts that have the exciting drums and guitars - it's a nice representation of the album as a whole, in a way!

Verdict: 8.5/10

Favorite tracks: Retrograde, Hos Down, Thot 2.0, Breaking Damnation, XV, Chapter II (yes, over half the album)

Reminds me of: Icarus the Owl and Minus the Bear (in places)



(Thank you for sharing yet another great album, Nate! I really enjoyed this!)

 

Great review! I am glad you enjoyed it! He is one of my favorite guitarists right now and I cant wait to see what he does next.

 

@skogsraet gave me Arquivo II by Os Paralamas Do Successo

All I knew going in is that like her they were Brazilian
I liked the vocals/vibe on this and appreciated that there were different styles for the songs, like how some songs had horns and others were more guitar driven
When something is in a foreign language it's a bit harder for me because I can never quite tell what they're saying but I think I can pick up enough in context to enjoy it, although Ela Disse Adeus did have some English parts

standout tracks - Lourinha Bombril, Busca Vida, Saber Amar, Ela Disse Adeus

 

I should have reviews for @bachna84 and @ugman_2000 either tonight or tomorrow. Gonna give all 3 records another spin tonight, if there’s time I’ll be writing them then!

 

I’ll have your other one tomorrow!

 

Yeah my will hopefully be up tonight (Monday).