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Rating: It's becoming increasingly common in the current melodic punk-core scene that most of the historical acts composing it, with the arrival of the new millennium and the passing years, pull out increasingly monotonous albums, leading many bands to a constant decline.
Two years after "Blaze," Joey Cape and company return with Lagwagon's "Resolve." The entire album was composed in honor of the late Derrick Plourde, who passed away a few months before the album's release. He was the former drummer of the band and of Bad Astronaut (Cape's side project) and a close friend of his.
The record maintains the band's classic style and it can be said that there haven't been significant changes. It's the usual Californian melodic hardcore that has characterized them since the beginning, but unfortunately, the "Hoss" era is decidedly long gone. The album offers very few interesting points, with songs that certainly do not stand out for originality and freshness. There are very fast songs, in truth very few, that hark back to the past, and more stretched pieces (if you'll pardon the expression) where melody prevails much more. Twelve songs (plus the final acoustic track) leave much to be desired.
Lagwagon manages once again to create fun melodies and then? That's it. The tracks, but this is nothing new for them, are all marked by countless instrumental parts, some with fitting solos, others terribly long and monotonous. If I had to choose, the only worthwhile episodes are "The Contortionist" with a good dose of melody and speed and a fitting chorus, and the opening "Heartbreaking Music" which echoes "Hoss"—very fast and engaging, though it lacks the freshness of tracks like "Name Dropping" or "Violins." Partially worth saving is also "Virus," though it's just a bit too long, a factor that penalizes it.
The rest can be said to be practically negligible. There are even two mid-tempo tracks, the title track and "Sad Astronaut," both characterized by a slow first part with sweet arpeggios and a second more punk-rock part that tries to retrieve and replicate their past success "Alien8," but the result is truly insubstantial.
The problem plaguing Lagwagon is that they are always anchored to the same old patterns, a situation that over time becomes tiresome and boring. You can't always keep going with stop and go and the same routines; moreover, the songs are often stretched out forcefully, without everything coming out coherent, especially in a genre characterized by short and direct compositions. For instance, Rise Against can pull off songs longer than three minutes, but they fail to maintain tension for the listener for long.
The final result is insufficient; a few tracks are not enough to save a sinking ship. I hope for Lagwagon that in the future they propose something at least different, even though I believe that the '90s have definitively set for them.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Automatic (03:16)
Get up, smile, find a need,
wash your hair, bleach your teeth
Develop habit,
Automatic
Compromise, build a bridge,
Sacrifice, sacrilege
Sell yourself,
Automatic
Nobody out there knows
None of them have intent
Pretension and purpose
Fashioned in plastic heads
Everyone drives all day
None of them have a goal
Everyone's lost their way
All of them play the game
Set a goal
Make it happen
Imagine love
Fake a passion
Change your name
Stay in fashion
Make a deal
Make it happen
Compromise, build a bridge
Sacrifice, sacrilege
Same cars
Same clothes
Same desires
Same woes
Lose it all
Automatic
Nobody out there feels
None of them sees the end
Pretension and purpose
Fashioning plastic heads
Everyone drives all day
Searching their empty hearts
Everyone's lost their way
All of us fall apart
Automatic
Automatic
03 Resolve (02:07)
Don't leave me in this room
The walls are closing in
This is the space I used to say
The line is drawn for you each day
But every day you show
With sound of caving walls
Some day this song will have no pulse
And I'll cave alone
But there we are
Waiting for your answer
Your arms speeded elation
Beating out your salvation
But when the tape stopped you were gone
A half measure from home
This week I recreate
Edit you back into
The blare that could define you
Coveted by few who knew
The phone rings without pause
This grief wills everyone
All I have is our shitty song
How could it ever be enough?
Here we are in our final accord
A mortician and his tools
Sonically bury you
You could have chose another chord to resolve on
04 Virus (03:31)
We colonize a better place
Unable to transform our fate
We follow whatever path grows
Directions no one knows
Given the choice for normalcy,
you seem content in who you've come to be
They said he re-installed his plague
Said to have re-vamped that limp vein
As if it all ends formulaic
Painless escape
We share the same virus of love and hope
And it's a fleeting beauty
You did everything you could
You were there for him through bad and good
Disappear before you follow suit
The parasites, they are still there to swallow you
Beating through an obtrude chest
Every emotive plea a stretch
No praise enough to build a life
No words to instill pride
And through your life disorder rides
I did everything I could
Mostly there for him through bad and good
I disappeared as always waiting for the born-again call
The one that signals to us all
This bender's over again
Listen for one last faint heartbeat
Holding his hand in hopes he breathes
All of those sad years have come to this
Your head lay on his sunken chest
The thought of you at his deathbed
The latest virus in my head
Unjust, unjust
Selfless you tended to our ghost
Katherine an unconditional untiring host
You were there for him when he needed you the most
I hope someone restores your heart
I hope something restores your world
07 Sad Astronaut (03:01)
As you sat on the bed
Moments from your end
Inconceivable dread
Inches from your head
I can't bear to imagine you
In that horror scene
One too sad to be
In my mind's eye I am there
Embracing you so scared
Now you kill me too
You killed me too
Decidedly willing to lie for you
Absolutely willing to cry for you
Ill at ease in saying goodbye to you
A part of me will never know
I am there again, intervals of red
An accomplice to
Things I couldn't do
In a fable disabled
I say words like foolish son
God what have you done
I'm a thin blue cliché, hopelessly
I'm a mouthful of doubtful
Decidedly willing to lie for you
Say again
Willing to cry for you
Finally saying goodbye to you
A part of you I'll never know
Looking through the spyglass in a punctured sky
While your garden died
You couldn't see the sky for your fallen stars?
Endless in your arms
You were still alive even as the sad astronaut
08 Rager (01:21)
Proceeds, who's in?
Who wants a piece of him?
So many articles to choose from
Comrade, artiste
A taste for evidence
Hold on to articles of faith
Once worth nothing that something touches who you want to be
Baggage embodies no one (He is gone)
Intrinsic to only one (He is gone)
Belongings don't define us
Keepsake, fingerprint, scrapbook, record of death
Funeral, event, everyone's gonna be there
They have to see you pay respects
Breathe in, breathe out, random, random, random
Who are these fucking idiots?
Come on I'm writing you
I know this role is tearing you apart
Large numbers can't console you (He is gone)
Don't let the guilt control you (He is gone)
The anger has consumed you
Ranting, regret, enrage, screaming next:
09 The Worst (02:30)
How does it start?
When does it end?
Blood and love graces everyone
You only want to touch it once
He didn't give it up
She wasn't long enough
They didn't save your falling smile
He never had a chance
But there it is
You're finally blessed
And you can't handle it
The worst
What did it say?
All you really need is love
But you're gonna make those fuckers pay
You're gonna hurt someone
That's all there really is
The ones that don't survive
They lied to you a thousand times
And you're starving heart has died
But there it is
You're finally blessed
Failure, failure, failure
A cement frown breaking
Allows a straight line blown away
It fell at thirteen
You're wide awake
Hours blind every winding curve
You start the fall from grace
The worst
You never had a chance
But here it is
You're finally blessed
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