Labels: Adagio830
Review by: Andy Malcolm
This is a record I could review without listening to a single note. I fucking love me some Ordination of Aaron, as you can read in the review of the CD version of this from 2000 showing up on the right. It’s 9 years further down the line since that reivew, and almost 11 since I heard the band for the first time so I don’t mind revisiting it for a fresh perspective at all, although I probably won’t write quite so much this time around…
I definitely feel the need to comment on the packaging here, it’s elaborate and I think they’ve done a great job with it even if it doesn’t feel or look much like a mid 90s emo record. At least until you find the massive cut and paste booklet with pictures of broken down vans, typewritten lyrics and live shots. Plus a sealed envelope. Great job guys! The music is spread over two slabs of vinyl. Most of the first is the excellent LP, “Immersion in a 90mph World”, an absolute classic and still as beltingly awesome as it ever was. Ordination of Aaron dallied with a more mainstream sound than many of their contemporaries as this LP shows. Many of the songs contain hefty, punchy riffs that are not a million miles away from the likes of Nirvana. Grungemo 4 lyfe! Rob’s Hicks vocals are particularly key in establishing OOA’s uniqueness. The guy is exceptionally whiney but is able to belt it out and then soften up as required. “New Face” is the archetypal OOA song, riffing away noisily and dropping out into a stunning twinkle in the middle before crashing back in. The influence of their period is clear at moments, such as on “Exercise in Futility Pt I” where the guitars are straight out of the Indian Summer school, it’s just the rest of the sound that hauls it away from that style. For some reason they have screwed with the track order, perhaps to get all the songs on 3 sides of vinyl, that’d be my assumption at least. It still works well. “Crate” exhibits the gentler side of the band, the plaintive opening still gets me every time. Love it. Then it comes piling in and everything seethes into soaring guitars and man those vocals again. Classic!
The album also features their singles / comp stuff. Battle of Tippecanoe from the Indian Summer split is pretty rough and I was never really into this song in the first place. It hasn’t aged well. Parthenon from All the Presidents Men is a corker, fitting in well with stuff like Current. Very moody, love the massive, squelching bass on this one! Great groove. “Product You” is intense as fuck and I can’t remember where this one is from. Such a well judged intro here, the bass again takes over as the guitar jangles ominously. You know this one is going to explode all over the place any moment. Their other triumph is “Eli”, which is perhaps their best song. It’s about as mid 90s a song as you care to name. Plenty of considered build up, tension and sobbing. Monumental. The track listing here isn’t quite right, Eli is #12 not #13.
I can’t recommend this highly enough. I don’t know if they have fully stood the test of time for everyone, as with most emo you could certainly consider this cheesey and dated, but to this day there are songs on here that blow me away every time I listen to them. I have no idea if these dudes are still involved in DIY in any shape or form, but they can be rightfully proud of having been part of such a good band.
I wrote more than I expected.