Tim has probably vomited every bit of information regarding his band Ghost Aviary that he possibly could've...but I still don't fucking remember who does what. I just remember Tim plays drums, because I'm an idiot. Well, I know Chris plays guitar and sings, actually. I think their bassist has changed a lot? I don't know. Fuck it, it's not my job to know everything about every emo band I review. Oh, it is? Whatever.
I've already reviewed something done by Tim before, and that was the goofy Campfire Suburbia split with tragichero...the latter of which is actually a solo act by the guy Chris who sings and guitars for Ghost Aviary...so I guess I do remember some things sometimes. The point is, this release is way bigger sounding and way better sounding and way better and bigger in general. They remind me of Rites of Springs meets Off With Their Heads meets some NYC hardcore shit. People get annoyed with what I compare bands to, but that's pretty accurate, so fuck everyone.
The album starts off with "I-95", and while the drummer may be balls and a half, the rest of the band is pretty on par. This song is gritty, and far more on the hardcore side for the first half, but then kicks it emo for a good chunk of it. The bass tone is kind of lackluster, but the playing is good. The singing is the kind that sounds like the dude is working towards uprooting his vocal cords and making them look more mangled than Blake Schwarzenbach's. It's full of emotion, spite, and grit. The drummer isn't bad, he's just straight edge. And that's not bad either, he's actually a great guy. I'm an ass. I'm just mad because he's supposed to move to Ohio and play drums for my pop-punk affairs, not write actual music with an actual band that plays an actual genre.
"A Profound Hatred of Me" starts off with Tim being an asshole with the cymbals and then is joined by the rest of the band, guitar first. There's an ambiance being deployed here, but I never notice these type of things. Vocals come firing out like fucking torpedoes, and it's totally deserved. Who sings backup vocals? I don't know, but it reminds me of 80s hardcore punk whenever they're going down. It's some pretty intense shit, folks.
"Chris Carrabba" comes on next, and you realize they have a knack for letting Tim start songs off so he feels more important. Everyone who doubted my OWTH comparison can fuck off, because this one is an awesome pop punk song. It's catchy, and as I said awesome. Is that Tim singing backups? I think it is. Dude can't sing. Chris has a powerful voice though; I love it. The leads for this song are exactly what you'd expect from a band like Teenage Bottlerocket, but employed by a band you wouldn't expect it from. It's a nice changeup from the rest of the songs, and makes it so you're not bored listening to the same song repeated with a new title.
The title track is hitting the late 80s, early 90s emo pretty hard, and taking no prisoners. Other than our ears, our ears are prisoners. It's okay though, because it's better than having our ears murdered or raped, so it's all good in the hood. Oh hey, Tim is singing. This song is pretty good. It's also not just more of the same. It sounds like Jawbreaker. I like it.
Oh hey, the last song has more of Tim starting it off slowly. Fucking surprise, dudes! By the way, it's Tim's birthday as I review this. He's not getting drunk though, so he's doing it wrong. This song would be epic sounding if I were to be the type of person to refer to something other than a work by Homer as "epic". It's pretty cool, but it's not my cup of tea. Arnold Palmer's is my cup of tea.
-Idle
You can listen to it here. Their CDs haven't arrived yet.
No comments:
Post a Comment