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Rating: Well... here we are facing the last chapter of the Santa Cruz band. It's essential to start by remembering that behind the drums returns the legendary (for me, of course) Sean Sellers, who left the group after the equally legendary "Operation Phoenix," probably their best album, certainly the most "hardcore" one.
After this necessary introduction, it's fair to say that they've released another great album, halfway between a fast and badass hardcore and a melodic and cheerful hardcore (although, in reality, it never truly is such), where truly powerful riffs are mixed with melodic new school sounds, at times akin to the recent No Use For A Name, but fortunately, those are few.
Going into specifics, it starts with a great, intense track, "Out Of Mind" which recalls the recent Pennywise, another of my favorite bands, so I can only enjoy it, to proceed with a mid-tempo track "Texas" which is cute, but nothing transcendental, still in the Good Riddance vein.
"Shame" seems to be taken directly from "Symptoms Of A Leveling Spirit" and is a track that I like very much, even though I prefer more aggressive pieces; we continue with "Tell Me Why" whose chorus seems to have been written by Bad Religion, all at a frantic pace that leaves you breathless until the end.
We perhaps reach the best track of the album, "Torches And Tragedies", which starts like a rocket, continues like a rocket, and ends straight into the listener’s stomach, all with great aggression... pure hardcore, truly beautiful. "Darkest Days" has a nice melody halfway between dark and melancholic... a good track.
"Up To You" continues in the same vein as "Torches And Tragedies", that is, quite pissed off before returning with "Regret" to the style of "Symptoms Of A Leveling Spirit" with a really nice driving melody. We come to "Boise" which, as far as I'm concerned, is perhaps the lowest point of the album, with its fluctuating pace that never fully captures me, everything too predictable and already heard; "Rise And Fall" instead is, in my opinion, the most creative track with its change of rhythm... it almost seems like two distinct tracks joined together... very beautiful.
"Broken" is a classic melodic hardcore, as they say, by Nofx or maybe in this case, it's better to say by No Use For A Name of the recent period; "Save The Children" and "This Beast Is Dangerous" are two tracks with different attitudes, but still can be cataloged as Good Riddance classics; nothing new, but still excellent.
It concludes with "Uniform", not exceptional, a good song, but they could have surely ended in a more explosive way... still, it's fine like this.
In conclusion, it can be said that we have a great album in front of us, although I have to say that Russ' voice is more "softer," or perhaps more polished, compared to the past, and this takes away a bit of grit from the overall sound. The lyrics, as we're used to, are mostly focused on political-social themes, which for many is a burden, but not for me.
I've read somewhere that this may be their worst album; for me, it isn't, in any case, I wish every band to make "their worst album" of this caliber... àù!!
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Out of Mind (02:22)
Forget the shadows of experimental bliss
And all the efforts to consolidate our pride
For we can fight just as well
We can send them all to hell
With all the pomp and production of a tidewater bell
We are the ciphers of old and we'll do as we're told
So long as units are sold throughout the night
So many lines in the sand that we can't understand
Revert to closing the ranks on every shortsighted plan
[Chorus]
It's just society, anxiety
Sometimes it's like the story never ends
It's heresy, hypocrisy
And through our ignorance we suffer our revenge
So quick to throw the only truth we've ever known so far away
Too many times we've turned our backs on all the crimes
And passed it off as borrowed time that's not our own
But with the gravity of greed in all the lies we intercede
We take the pressure off the seat of those who revel in defeat
03 Shame (01:48)
Minutes, running down the drain
This is where our lives go
This is where we stay
In a job that really pays
So much like the first step
Maybe just a misstep
Maybe just a phase, just a phase
What am I supposed to do? [3x]
Take a Dramamine for nausea
Another pill for the broken bones
And the ringing in my head now
Sounds just like the telephone
So it's over-complicated
A shame so shoved aside
Like the broken years I've waited
And the emptiness inside
What am I supposed to do? [3x]
Take one more on the chin
Grow a somewhat thicker skin
Let the scars all fade away
Like the promise of today
And when the sky falls down
I hope you're still around
And everything keeps changing, but I won't be around!
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