The Chorus Music Club Society • Page 167

My favorite band is ETID, so I'm a fan of riffs!

 

I apologize to everyone about the shower bit in my last write-up, should have spoiler tagged it and marked it NSFW

 

Oh, this is on a whole different level. Clear the living room and hide your children because you will be slam dancing like a 15 year old when the first chord strikes.

@theagentcoma back me up

 

oh shit someone is listening to Power Trip?? Yeah get into an open space where you can't break anything with the inevitable windmill kicks you'll be firing off!

 

It will be KNOWN!!

 

This week I had @Michael Schmidt rec me...

Kid Dynamite - Shorter, Faster, Louder



Kid Dynamite’s Shorter, Faster, Louder clocks in at under 25 minutes but boasts 18 tracks. So, does it do exactly what it says on the tin? Kinda...yeah.

I absolutely loved the Minor Threat influence that I could hear immediately as “Pits & Poisoned Apples” opened up the album and lead into a highlight for me, “Death and Taxes” but unfortunately the album tended to maintain this note throughout and despite it being under half an hour of an album, I lost focus and interest most of the time I sat to listen.

My relationship with hardcore punk, and American hardcore punk especially, is a fairly complex one being that I’m a fan and a lot of it has influenced bands I adore - but as I get older I actually find myself detaching from its snarling simplicity and repetitive snare hits more and more and rarely ever delving into its catalogue of bands. That being said, there will be moments where I’ll actively seek it out and hits just the right spot. I become obsessive with it. Because of my pernickety nature with it as a genre, it was my own fault that I just wasn’t in that space when spending time with this album. Consequently, it felt quite hard to really connect with or be inspired to write something captivating about it - I didn’t hate the record or sound or spending time with it, but ironically, it didn’t spark any feeling in me at all. Apathy is hardcore punk’s worst enemy, I know, and I feel pretty ashamed about it.

The album is full of foaming at the mouth delivery and relentless thrashing guitars, there’s even hints of Lifetime peeking through in some of the songs here and as the bands share members - it’s no real surprise, but it was really great to hear.

Nevertheless, this is an album I’ve saved because I know that I would love it when my mind decides that it’s in the mode where only this genre will suffice. That’s why it’s been a complicated review to write this week, I know I’d enjoy this album - just in another, very specific moment in time.

Recommended Tracks: "Death and Taxes", "Living Daylights"

 

If you are interested, there a few side projects that stemmed from this band that aren’t as “fast”. Jason had a pretty good melodic punk band None More Black that released two albums on Fat Wreck Cords. Great review as always.

 

Special Edition CMCS Release Day Review coming your way as a result of a deal between @JediMasterKevo182 and I, he will have one for Pianos Become The Teeth-Wait For Love later tonight.

Senses Fail
If There Is A Light, It Will Find You
February 16, 2018



If There Is A Light, it Will Find You is the seventh studio album by Senses Fail. It sees Buddy and crew shift away from the sonic direction of Renacer and Pull the Thorns from Your Heart in favor of a sound more reminiscent of Still Searching and Life is Not a Waiting Room.

This album feels very personal yet hopeful and Buddy sounds quite reinvigorated. There is a lot of themes of this album I feel including in my opinion, hope, fear, loss, uncertainty, failure among others. The lyrics are in my opinion Buddy’s best aside from “Gold Jacket, Green Jacket” which aside from having a strong message about a wasteful society has very weak, borderline cringe-worthy lyrics that distract from that message and makes it feel out of place with the rest of the record.

The album highlight for me and probably the best example of how personal Buddy gets here is the fantastic “First Breath, Last Breath”. This song is about Buddy’s daughter being born and his wife’s near-death experience while giving birth, lyrically Buddy lacks a fear of losing his wife and the uncertainty of not being able to raising the child on his own. The song opens with the urgent lyrics “I watched you bleed out, I watched your lungs cave” for me this was powerful and demanded my attention. These lyrics speak to the uncertainty he portrays “How the hell am I supposed to raise a daughter on my own”, “I'm alive, but I'm dead inside and I'm supposed to raise a child with a smile now” and “And our daughters first breath is the last one you will ever take and I don't think I can make it on my own”

Following the theme of uncertainty comes another of my standout tracks “Is It Gonna be The Year?” he tackles the uncertainty of his career path and not knowing if he can do anything else show cased by this lyric.

“I didn't go to college, and I don't own a house
I guess that I'm a failure and I fucked up somehow
Now I've just been screaming into a microphone away from home
When everyone I know gave up a long time ago
What else am I supposed to do with my life”


If There Is A Light, it Will Find You the album title track and, in my opinion, strongest Senses Fail album closer takes a more hopeful turn to end out the album. It just feels like such a fitting conclusion. Buddy ends the album with this hopeful lyric.

“If there is light it'll find you
If there is light it'll find you, don't be afraid”

I haven’t been this instantly captivated by a Senses Fail album since the first time I heard “Still Searching”, this album never drags or loses you even during the weaker tracks of the bunch and I know will be in steady rotation for a good time coming.

Rating: 8.5/10

Standout Tracks: First Breath Last Breath, Is This Gonna Be The Year?, Stay What You Are, If There Is A Light It Will Find You.

Also worth noting the album art is fantastic and after hearing the record makes a ton of sense and makes it even more special.

 

Nice work!

 

Thanks!

 

I've never liked Senses Fail but I love that cover art. Almost tempting.

 

I agree with it lyrically being his strongest work to date but musically I can’t really get on board, other than the title track. It’s a nostalgic yet dated sound.

 

That's fair enough man.

 

Great write up man!!

This would be the album to do so ask @Dumblecore

 

Thanks twin, great avatar.

 

I've never listened to Senses Fail, where to start?

 

The new album or Still Searching. Those are their best imo

 

The new one is a pretty great starting point, it highlights what they do best quite well. Has his best lyrics to date and really good vocal delivery.

 

Proposed idea: would you guys like it if on top of our pairings, the adminstrafion staff occasionally did release day reviews like the one @skurt just did?

 

Yes!

 

Can we expand on that have each of us do certain genres or I’m fine with mixing it up as well?

 

I’d be fine with that. You mean like skurt and I handle pop punk/alternative, you have metal and so on?

 

Yeah, however we want to divide it.

 

I for sure want an @Nate_Johnson release day review of Between The Buried and Me-Automata I.

I think that if our regular members feel strongly about an album and want to drop a review on release day they should be encouraged to do so. We can't have too many reviews and discussion right?

 

Never enough.