Labels: Lovitt
Review by: Andy Malcolm
Begone, tortured screams! Anyone familiar with the past work of the “Down will no doubt be anticipating a follow up to the impressive yet irritatingly entitled “Under the Pretense of Present Tense”, and that may also lead them to expect another LP packed with moody build ups and gut punching screamed parts. Yet no. Losing the majority of their old school emo influences, Engine Down have mellowed out. At least on the vocal side. Musically they still maintain an intense edge, darkly brooding and building up into driving rock outs. The current comparison is clear. Engine Down are the new Boilermaker. And I am not going to be the one to complain about that. Boilermaker were the singularly most under-rated emo indie rock band of the 90s, defining a style of music that no-one gives them credit for. Their enormous influence on the genre is undeniable, just pick up “In Wallace’s Shadow” or “11 Songs” for proof positive.
The similarities between ED and the “Maker are plain to hear. The long drawn out post-hardcore rockers, the drifting slow-burners, passionate yet far from over the top vocals, the calms before the storms. And just check the use of piano on “Paint On The Better”. Though where Boilermaker may have taken a more straight forward approach at times, Engine Down infuse a little more into the style, though I just wish they would expand on their occasional use of non-standard instruments such as the cello and aforementioned piano.
There are particularly striking moments of almost spoken vocals, again the influence is obvious. “In Favour” hits it’s stride like an out-take from the Van Pelt’s “Sultans of Sentiment”, and moments of “Trial Error” offer more of the same.
Other downbeat tracks such as “Somnolent Detachment” allow the band to take a direction not all too dissimilar to Sunny Day Real Estate, but rather than borrowing the noisier passages from that band as so many “emo’ no-hopers are wan to do, ED stick to the depressingly miserable, much in the vein that I Hate Myself did when they did their “SDRE at 33rpm” vibe on the split 12″ with 12 Hour Turn.
All in all this is a high quality record that anyone who yearns to feel something from their emo indie rock diet which has been tainted by a steady flow of unpalatable junk food of late. The band have taken some worthy influences and filtered them through a few fine ideas of their own to produce a stunningly gorgeous album. One of the big rollers of 2000 so far. Please don’t let them go the way of Boilermaker”¦