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As the anniversary of our nation’s birth arrives we fire up our grills, we ice our beers, and we don our American flag underpants. In the spirit of the weekend’s festivities, it’s only fitting that I give you my two cents on the newest record from the bacon eating, mounty loving, caribou chasing Canadians in Alexisonfire (www.myspace.com/alexisonfire).
These poor guys were stashed away for like, two WHOLE months in a studio within a stone’s throw (literally, you can see it from the doorway of the studio) of a massive brewery. Somehow, through the miracles of modern digital recording technology, they were able to edit out all the bottle clinking and belligerent yelling through the talk-back microphone. Science is awesome. ANYWAY. Splits and indie single releases aside, this is the 4th record these cheery Canadians have put out. I’d like to think that these guys haven’t peaked yet as their style, class, and talent over the past several years have only proven to progress and refine by leaps and bounds. Being the consummate greedy listener, I can’t WAIT to see what the next step in the ascension to rock god-dom will bring. But in the mean time let’s focus on the tasty ear nuggets they’ve given us this past week.
I’d blobbed a couple weeks ago (I know, I’m hilarious) about the newest release from a band called The Chariot. I had mentioned that their record wasn’t genre bending and how that can be okay because as an aggressive statement in hardcore, it only solidified the band as a mainstay in their genre, and only their genre. “Old Crows/Young Cardinals” by Alexisonfire does the opposite of this with a similar outcome. Rather than affirming their status as the premier band in the Canadian (and American) hardcore scene by releasing a record that sounds just like their other records, Alexisonfire took a step forward with their song writing, their style, and their technical abilities in their newest release while still advancing their status as a household hardcore name. Whereas it takes a certain level of technical prowess to possess the ability to shred at one’s instrument, I would argue (and maybe expand into a separate entry) that it almost takes MORE talent to possess this ability but restrain in its use. There are little guitar fills and licks here and there that exhibit the talent these guys posses (like in the opening of “Born and Raised”) but there’s never an extended portion of a song that is just a series of parts strung together to show how the individuals dominate their instruments. An example of the opposite would be the band Trivium who pretty much write songs just to show off an unbelievable solo.
Beyond the restraint these guys show, there’s a wide variety of genres exhibited on this disk that make it quite an enjoyable listening experience…to put it pleasantly for a change. The disk starts out with a really awesome throwback vibe to old school 1980s punk. George, the screamer guy, changed up how he articulated his voice going from a scream to more of a grainy yell type thing. The verses of the song “Young Cardinals” have an awesome old school feel to them. To compliment George’s punk styling, Wade (one of the guitar players) sings in much the same fashion but with a slightly different timbre. Then there’s Dallas. Oooh Dallas Green. He sings…to me. This dude has pipes. Contrasted to the punk undertones, Dallas’s SUPER clear vocals cut through the mix like something really sharp cutting through something pretty soft. Not to mention that songs like “The Northern” and “Burial” seem to have been written in such a way as to provide Dallas with a blank canvas to paint glorious vocal colors all over. In fact, speaking of genre bending, “Burial” as a song sounds closer to a song by Dallas’s folk-indie side project (City and Colour) in that it borders on the stripped down, natural sound of a folk song. Of course, to bridge the gap between the punk revival (“Accept Crime”, “Young Cardinals”, “No Rest”) and the borderline folk (“Burial” and “The Northern”) are some good ole fashioned rock and roll tunes that have a very comfortable, familiar feel to them (“Headed For The Sun” and “Midnight Regulations”). The comfortable sound is a testament to Alexisonfire’s capability to not only write a catchy riff, but write a coherent song. This ability, while not tied to technical skill, is easy to do, but difficult to do and sound NATURAL doing it. In the first spin of this disk, I was listening to songs I’d never heard before and by the second or third chorus, was already humming along the melody, filling in the words I was able to pick up without realizing it. This is NOT a talent of the listener. It’s exclusively a trait of the band writing the song.
To make a song relatable on a melodic front takes a lot of talent and a lot of conscious song writing proficiency. I would go as far as to say that this ability would go hand in hand with the capacity to demonstrate restraint as a musician as the tendency is to use a song to showcase your flair and talent. Alexisonfire has done this while at the same time relating the scene and genre they came from to a listener who may not have found it appealing on first exposure.
So again I’ll end my post with the following:
Epic. WIN!!
These poor guys were stashed away for like, two WHOLE months in a studio within a stone’s throw (literally, you can see it from the doorway of the studio) of a massive brewery. Somehow, through the miracles of modern digital recording technology, they were able to edit out all the bottle clinking and belligerent yelling through the talk-back microphone. Science is awesome. ANYWAY. Splits and indie single releases aside, this is the 4th record these cheery Canadians have put out. I’d like to think that these guys haven’t peaked yet as their style, class, and talent over the past several years have only proven to progress and refine by leaps and bounds. Being the consummate greedy listener, I can’t WAIT to see what the next step in the ascension to rock god-dom will bring. But in the mean time let’s focus on the tasty ear nuggets they’ve given us this past week.
I’d blobbed a couple weeks ago (I know, I’m hilarious) about the newest release from a band called The Chariot. I had mentioned that their record wasn’t genre bending and how that can be okay because as an aggressive statement in hardcore, it only solidified the band as a mainstay in their genre, and only their genre. “Old Crows/Young Cardinals” by Alexisonfire does the opposite of this with a similar outcome. Rather than affirming their status as the premier band in the Canadian (and American) hardcore scene by releasing a record that sounds just like their other records, Alexisonfire took a step forward with their song writing, their style, and their technical abilities in their newest release while still advancing their status as a household hardcore name. Whereas it takes a certain level of technical prowess to possess the ability to shred at one’s instrument, I would argue (and maybe expand into a separate entry) that it almost takes MORE talent to possess this ability but restrain in its use. There are little guitar fills and licks here and there that exhibit the talent these guys posses (like in the opening of “Born and Raised”) but there’s never an extended portion of a song that is just a series of parts strung together to show how the individuals dominate their instruments. An example of the opposite would be the band Trivium who pretty much write songs just to show off an unbelievable solo.
Beyond the restraint these guys show, there’s a wide variety of genres exhibited on this disk that make it quite an enjoyable listening experience…to put it pleasantly for a change. The disk starts out with a really awesome throwback vibe to old school 1980s punk. George, the screamer guy, changed up how he articulated his voice going from a scream to more of a grainy yell type thing. The verses of the song “Young Cardinals” have an awesome old school feel to them. To compliment George’s punk styling, Wade (one of the guitar players) sings in much the same fashion but with a slightly different timbre. Then there’s Dallas. Oooh Dallas Green. He sings…to me. This dude has pipes. Contrasted to the punk undertones, Dallas’s SUPER clear vocals cut through the mix like something really sharp cutting through something pretty soft. Not to mention that songs like “The Northern” and “Burial” seem to have been written in such a way as to provide Dallas with a blank canvas to paint glorious vocal colors all over. In fact, speaking of genre bending, “Burial” as a song sounds closer to a song by Dallas’s folk-indie side project (City and Colour) in that it borders on the stripped down, natural sound of a folk song. Of course, to bridge the gap between the punk revival (“Accept Crime”, “Young Cardinals”, “No Rest”) and the borderline folk (“Burial” and “The Northern”) are some good ole fashioned rock and roll tunes that have a very comfortable, familiar feel to them (“Headed For The Sun” and “Midnight Regulations”). The comfortable sound is a testament to Alexisonfire’s capability to not only write a catchy riff, but write a coherent song. This ability, while not tied to technical skill, is easy to do, but difficult to do and sound NATURAL doing it. In the first spin of this disk, I was listening to songs I’d never heard before and by the second or third chorus, was already humming along the melody, filling in the words I was able to pick up without realizing it. This is NOT a talent of the listener. It’s exclusively a trait of the band writing the song.
To make a song relatable on a melodic front takes a lot of talent and a lot of conscious song writing proficiency. I would go as far as to say that this ability would go hand in hand with the capacity to demonstrate restraint as a musician as the tendency is to use a song to showcase your flair and talent. Alexisonfire has done this while at the same time relating the scene and genre they came from to a listener who may not have found it appealing on first exposure.
So again I’ll end my post with the following:
Epic. WIN!!
The Alexisonfire drum tracking...can you HEAR me geeking out from wherever you're sitting?!
Great freakin' album. Wow.
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