Labels: Deathwish
Review by: Andy Malcolm
I am not sure I am in the right frame of mind to be listening to these bastards after mellowing out with a bit of Ray Barbee meets the Mattson 2 and pouring myself a whiskey, but what the hey. Initially I am frustrated by the fact that I have to review it from a stream, and I can’t rewind a few seconds to hear a lyric I just missed. For the first track, “Composite Character” is a list song. The dude gives a philosophy for living (well, he says it’s for understanding the lp, but I guess it’s the same thing). He makes some good recommendations, it’s a pretty solid list for a drop out in their 20s. If you’re older than that, you might have to miss off a couple of things but overall it’s still pretty solid. I think at one point he suggests that you judge people based on how they’d fit into your D&D campaign. Based on the list of stuff he says, I would say he is a pretty well adjusted geek, rather than a socially awkward misfit nerd. Most punks are one or the other, I’ve found.
Ok, enough of me trying to analyse that one track, lets move on. End of a Year are on Deathwish. You can choose to let that colour your opinion in any way you like. If you listen to that first track on here though you’ll realise End of a Year don’t really give a shit. They’ve just come out and made a solid post-hardcore record which follows on from their previous releases quite nicely. It’s all powerful guitars and emoted vocals, not a real step away from the Buck RitesofSpring in the 21st Century sound that they have been dishing up for the past several years. The riffs drive, and the vocals are hoarse and dominating proceedings as ever. This is flat out a solid album. End of a Year know what they want to do and are content making a record that draws upon Revolution Summer and mid 90s emo with plenty of zeal, they just top it up with production and heft, to give it a sound that is more likely to be listened to by some kid with an interest in Deathwish in general, whilst at the same time not putting off old fogey stalwarts like me who were expecting to gripe and moan about how the band sounded nothing like what they used ta. Oh wait, there is a shitty prog kind of song called “Sara Hayden” where they tried something different. Leave that junk for the side project, dudes. I just noticed every song is named after a person, which is kind of odd.
Look, there ain’t much more to write here. End of a Year make good music. If you like anything else they have ever released, you will also like this album. If you like the concept of Leatherface crossed with Rites of Spring, you will also like this album. To be honest, I am not sure where they can go with this sound any more, but if they only churn out one LP every 3 or 4 years then no-one will probably mind.