There is some serious rumors surrounding whether this may be Bad Religion's last album ever. I really hope not, these guys are awesome it would be serious loss. In true punk fashion Bad Religion bash politics specifically major commercial enterprises not to mention How they strike back against politics with their music. Singer Greg Graffin is quite a smart cookie he goes against US political issues without become one of what he would call left wing nutjobs, or anarchists if you like. Especially outspoken agianst Bush he really doesn't like president Bush, the whole album The Empire Strikes First was against him.
Despite the name of the band, or the band's logo, the members do not consider themselves atheist.
Singer Greg Graffin states that more often than not, the band prefers
to use religion as a metaphor for anything that does not allow for an
individual's freedom to think or express themselves as they choose. In
this way, their songs are more about anti-conformity than anti-religion.
The album itself is quite something to behold, it is thier the best album since Stranger Than Fiction, which is a huge complement. It's a return to a different age for them, it's a faster more in your face album then I have seen for years from them. It sounds like they are having fun again, returning to their roots. While I liked The Dissent of Man, the past few albums from them have become more pop punk, sort of becoming the "New Bad Religion sound". Some people thought the old rebel rousers were gone for good. It just took few years to find some passion, and the angst of the 80's that we missed so much. The lyrics are crisp and angry with their classic smart guy punk feel all over it, attacking corporate America, heard mentality and religion of course. The guitar and drums come roaring in with a vengeance and you know your in for a trip. It just has that old school punk feel where most of the tracks come in at under 2 minutes like back in the early NOFX or Bouncing Souls albums.
The albums opener "True North" opens with an explosion that makes me want to jump strait into a mosh pit and go nuts. "Past is Dead", slows things down for a bit before taking off like a Rocket ship. The next three songs; "Robin Hood in Reverse", "Land of Endless Greed", and the lead single, "F@#k You", bring the bands best, with sharpest lyrics, biggest choruses, and most strait up punk energy on the album. The rest of the album feels like a book whose words are flying off its pages, and into your face. The drummer is a maniac slamming on those symbols like he wants to kill them. This album is definitely a requirement for all you punk rockers out there. It's one of the most raw, in your face, pure punk albums I have heard in a long time.
Reccomended songs: Robin Hood in Reverse, Land of Endless Greed, F$#k You, and True North.
4.5/5 Stars
Local Natives only have two albums at this point they are still fairly new to the music scene. At least when you compare them to Bad Religion they are. The band came together in Orange County, where Kelcey Ayer, Ryan Hahn, and Taylor Rice attended Tesoro High School. One year after graduating college at UCLA, they were joined by bassist Andy Hamm and drummer Matt Frazier. In December 2008. These guys are literally living most garage bands fantasies. They were just a group of college friends that all liked playing music together. So they decided one day to make an album. what makes them different is that everything they do is 100% collaborative effort from the whole band. They even named their first album Gorilla Manor together. It was the name of the place they were all living in at the time in Orange County. This was one of those bands you could see just making an album, not making it in the music business, but remaining friends. Getting together once a year to listen to the album they created together like a time capsule.
That is not what happened theses guys had some serious tallent and after opening for Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeros, and Arcade Fire, they were on their way to being famous. When your debut album is compared to Grizzly Bear, you know your going in the right direction. When you listen to the album you can almost feel the happiness of their dreams coming true. This is a very positive album. Here are some lyrics from the some, "Sun Hands". "The most beautiful colors chase the son. They wrap her trail in a taunting guesture that seems to sing outloud. This is what your missing." I'm showing you this so you can see how much they changed in Hummingbird.
That was one of the few faults of the sparkling debut is it didn't have very much emotional depth. Both the music and the lyrics themselves are just so upbeat, it's not a bad thing just that some times all of one emotion leaves something to be desired. The music itself on the album is absolutly wonderful. It's a great indie rock album that I very throughly enjoyed. However that being said Hummingbird is a different beast entirely its own.
On Hummingbird the four remaining members got back together and made a super dark emotional roaller coaster of an album. It's truely hard to believe that this is the same band. They had a lot of help from The National’s Aaron Dessner, who came on board as producer. This album is layered, just waves of sound and emotion coming together with beautifl lyrics to make something truly wonderful. It is dark though don't misunderstand, this is an album of realism for the band. They aren't the happy go lucky dreamers anymore they have seen the world and experienced some of the worst things about it. Look at he album cover, it shows one of the member almost being pulled under by the ground itself. This was done on purpose, when I had you look at the lyrics earlier you saw just pure joy. Look at some lyrics from Hummingbirds, "You and I". "When did your love, when did your love grow cold? The closer I get the farther I have to go to places we don't know. In all this light all I feel is dark. Had the sun without it's warmth, I'm Freezing." It's so much darker and it's about waking up and realizing the love of your life doesn't love you anymore. Deep stuff, and real, Local Natives only use their real lifes when the write.
The album opens with the haunting but beautiful, "You and I" a song about Kelcey Ayer loosing the love of his life. It's real, and in your face, he croons with his falsetto over the top of the thick layers of instruments. In "Heavy Feet", talks about a conversation he had with someone about outliving the body. The song is rich and beautiful, with simple but effective harmonies overtop to make it sound more genuinly painful. From this point it follows the story of a person very depressed by a true love lost, he's depressed and beaten down on, "Ceilings", he forgets how to breath on "Blackspot". On "Breakers", a real album standout more of an indie rock song, here he is trying to figure out if he is ok but he doen'st know anymore. "Three Months" and "Black Balloons" lead him back into depression, seeing her everywhere he looks. He finally starts to get better on, "Wooly Mamoth", and "Mt. Washington". At first blaming himself then getting back into looking ahead for hope, and then he gets a blow that would be crushing even without previous heart break.
In the song "Columbia", he talks about watching his mom die and having his final conversation with her ever. Remember this is all real, this heartbraking ballad could pull at the heartstrings of the strongest cinic. "Bowery", leaves us back where we started at the begginging alone and depresseed. Evey song lyric on this whole album is real, and each one is beautifully crafted. They could all be used in a slam poetry session. This album really feels like the therapy he needed to get over all of the heartbrack. It's dark, it's beautiful, and it's real. The music itself can be divided into two catagories dark haunting ballads, or dark driving indie alternative rock songs. This album really got to me, it deserves all the praise it gets, it is wonderful.
Reccomended songs: You and I, Breakers, Wooly Mamoth, and Columbia
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