Review by: Damien Mills
So it’s finally out, that record that everyone is talking so much about with the awful title and slightly uniformly ’emo’ artwork, the signs weren’t so good.
Not being someone who really downloads music I must of been one of the few people not really knowing what to expect, which I’ve decided is probably for the better. It’s certainly not the super slick watered down rock effort that some seem to wish us to believe.
There are eight tracks listed on the sleeve but in fact there are a good ten or so pieces on it. It appears that a few instrumentals don’t get their own titles for whatever reason. The album starts with one of these instrumentals, kinda mid paced and fairly similar all the way through and not the huge explosive opening of their last album which I guess is on purpose. Good for them. The second track is where it starts off more convincingly with the album’s title track, something of a slowburner building up nicely with the title being yelled out repeatedly part way through, my favourite track on the record i think. Otherwise the tracks follow a similar theme in a very general sweeping statement by a lazy reviewer kind of way, but you weren’t expecting any ballads or anything I don’t suppose, though there are a few moments that in relative terms at least, might be described as ‘slowies’.
The overall sound of the record is still raw enough to be fun, I don’t really see how people can say it’s over produced or whatever. I think, like most of their stuff, it’s about right, not glossy or anything but neither is it the inside-a-lead-lined-washing-machine-with-a-duvet on record sound that many bands in this style might have favoured over the years for ‘authenticity’ (whatever that might mean). In fact the only thing it lacks as a YK record is some of Mag’s sharper high pitch vocals of yore, there are some here and there but it’s mostly the grunty Kotto’s voice this time around. Not really for better or worse, that would be for you to decide for yourself…
Overall, not their best work but still a great punk rock/emo record, now, about that front cover….