Holy Shit
That's right, I said it. Today I picked up the new Brand New album, The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me, something I've been expecting to do on and off for the past year and a half or so, and my first thought was exactly the title of this entry. Generally, when an album is pushed back far longer than would even seem reasonable, the weight of that album's anticipation makes it a disappointment regardless of how good it turns out to be (have fun with that, Axl Rose). However, upon hearing the newest from Brand New in its entirety, I can honestly say I am completely satisfied.
First off, this is one beautifully bleak album. Anyone who's heard the first single "Sowing Season" already has a pretty good idea of the general sound of The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me (hereafter referred to as Devil). In terms of sheer musicianship, Brand New has officially transcended emo all together. The songs on this disc are full of driving drums, effects-laden guitar riffs, loud-soft dynamics that would make Radiohead proud, and some real stretches in frontman Jesse Lacey's vocals (also their guitarist, who sang part of the hook on "The Quiet Things that No One Ever Knows" gets some extra vox in as well, singing the chorus on "Millstone" and appearing as backup in several of the songs). In the context of their previous albums, this continues down the evolutionary path started with "The No Seatbelt Song" off Your Favorite Weapon and explored on Deja Entendu. The Brand New of Devil have become a dark post-punk machine, the kind that will scare off some of the teenage girls who were hoping for another "Soco Amaretto Lime" but will make music nerds like myself listen over and over again.
Lyrically, Lacey still delivers the acidic lyrics Brand New fans have come to know and love, but he's a lot more serious and introspective on this album. Devil lacks outright dis tracks like "Seventy Times 7" and never gets as specific as "Sic Transit Gloria," but the subtleties work with the darker sound the band has achieved. That said, every song has at least one line I wish I had written, and "Jesus" may be the most lyrically amazing song I've heard this year.
Even those like me who cheated and downloaded the leaked demos last spring can appreciate the evolution going on with Devil. "Sowing Season" is obviously the finished version of Demo 8 (which at the time was my least favorite of the demos) and has seriously benefitted from the full band treatment. "Take Apart Your Head" has been given a production polish and a creepy children's choir on the chorus and is now known as "Degausser." "Luca" took Demo 6 (which was already one of the best ones) and made it epic. The demo appearence that took me completely by surprise, however, was the chorus from Demo 9, which was sped up, made louder, and became the hook for "The Archers Bows Have Broken." This song is an uplifting, anthemic ray of light in what is otherwise a complete black hole of an album. In other words, this song is great for all the same reasons as its demo ancestor. In a perfect world "Archers" would go straight to the top of the charts.
So that's my review of The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me. Since I've made enough references to make anyone who has little or no experience with Brand New throw up their hands and walk away, I'll sum it up for the casual reader: this album is amazing. Even if you think emo and any band remotely connected to that scene is a curse upon humanity, this album will still impress you. Four stars. Ten out of ten. Two thumbs up. I wish I'd written everything on it.
And now that I've spent 90% of this entry gushing about a new album, here's some other stuff:
The Democrats took over Congress: I won't lie, I'm completely bloodthirsty about this. Granted, most of the truly horrific Republicans were knocked out by November's Democratic victory and Donald Rumsfeld resigned ahead of time to spare himself the certain public embarassment, we can still potentially see Bush and Cheney get hung by their toenails. I'd love to see an impeachment, but I won't keep my fingers crossed. However, it'll be refreshing to see issues like global warming and stem cell research finally getting force-fed down Dubya's throat (not to mention gay marriage and a little thing called "the war in Iraq"). I hope that man and his administration are spared no indignity in the next two years.
My car may finally have killed itself: After a lovely trip to Boston for Kate Edge's birthday, I pulled into my driveway to find that my car no longer wanted to shift out of Drive. Ever again. Without being able to turn the engine off, I was forced to leave it in my driveway trying to roll against the e-brake while I waited for AAA to show up (the AAA guy had to remove a fuse to get the engine to stop). It was then towed to Northup's, who I still haven't heard back from regarding its status. I assume this is because the good people at Northup's are coming up with a polite way to tell me to stop driving such a piece of shit before it finally manages to successfully murder me. In any case, I've got my mother's car for at least the duration of Thanksgiving break, but I have no idea what I'm even going to be capable of doing for a long-term solution. Today's lesson: fuck Dodge Intrepids.
Well, that's all I've got for this long, exhausting entry. I hope it was as good for me as it was for you. Happy Thanksgiving.
First off, this is one beautifully bleak album. Anyone who's heard the first single "Sowing Season" already has a pretty good idea of the general sound of The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me (hereafter referred to as Devil). In terms of sheer musicianship, Brand New has officially transcended emo all together. The songs on this disc are full of driving drums, effects-laden guitar riffs, loud-soft dynamics that would make Radiohead proud, and some real stretches in frontman Jesse Lacey's vocals (also their guitarist, who sang part of the hook on "The Quiet Things that No One Ever Knows" gets some extra vox in as well, singing the chorus on "Millstone" and appearing as backup in several of the songs). In the context of their previous albums, this continues down the evolutionary path started with "The No Seatbelt Song" off Your Favorite Weapon and explored on Deja Entendu. The Brand New of Devil have become a dark post-punk machine, the kind that will scare off some of the teenage girls who were hoping for another "Soco Amaretto Lime" but will make music nerds like myself listen over and over again.
Lyrically, Lacey still delivers the acidic lyrics Brand New fans have come to know and love, but he's a lot more serious and introspective on this album. Devil lacks outright dis tracks like "Seventy Times 7" and never gets as specific as "Sic Transit Gloria," but the subtleties work with the darker sound the band has achieved. That said, every song has at least one line I wish I had written, and "Jesus" may be the most lyrically amazing song I've heard this year.
Even those like me who cheated and downloaded the leaked demos last spring can appreciate the evolution going on with Devil. "Sowing Season" is obviously the finished version of Demo 8 (which at the time was my least favorite of the demos) and has seriously benefitted from the full band treatment. "Take Apart Your Head" has been given a production polish and a creepy children's choir on the chorus and is now known as "Degausser." "Luca" took Demo 6 (which was already one of the best ones) and made it epic. The demo appearence that took me completely by surprise, however, was the chorus from Demo 9, which was sped up, made louder, and became the hook for "The Archers Bows Have Broken." This song is an uplifting, anthemic ray of light in what is otherwise a complete black hole of an album. In other words, this song is great for all the same reasons as its demo ancestor. In a perfect world "Archers" would go straight to the top of the charts.
So that's my review of The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me. Since I've made enough references to make anyone who has little or no experience with Brand New throw up their hands and walk away, I'll sum it up for the casual reader: this album is amazing. Even if you think emo and any band remotely connected to that scene is a curse upon humanity, this album will still impress you. Four stars. Ten out of ten. Two thumbs up. I wish I'd written everything on it.
And now that I've spent 90% of this entry gushing about a new album, here's some other stuff:
The Democrats took over Congress: I won't lie, I'm completely bloodthirsty about this. Granted, most of the truly horrific Republicans were knocked out by November's Democratic victory and Donald Rumsfeld resigned ahead of time to spare himself the certain public embarassment, we can still potentially see Bush and Cheney get hung by their toenails. I'd love to see an impeachment, but I won't keep my fingers crossed. However, it'll be refreshing to see issues like global warming and stem cell research finally getting force-fed down Dubya's throat (not to mention gay marriage and a little thing called "the war in Iraq"). I hope that man and his administration are spared no indignity in the next two years.
My car may finally have killed itself: After a lovely trip to Boston for Kate Edge's birthday, I pulled into my driveway to find that my car no longer wanted to shift out of Drive. Ever again. Without being able to turn the engine off, I was forced to leave it in my driveway trying to roll against the e-brake while I waited for AAA to show up (the AAA guy had to remove a fuse to get the engine to stop). It was then towed to Northup's, who I still haven't heard back from regarding its status. I assume this is because the good people at Northup's are coming up with a polite way to tell me to stop driving such a piece of shit before it finally manages to successfully murder me. In any case, I've got my mother's car for at least the duration of Thanksgiving break, but I have no idea what I'm even going to be capable of doing for a long-term solution. Today's lesson: fuck Dodge Intrepids.
Well, that's all I've got for this long, exhausting entry. I hope it was as good for me as it was for you. Happy Thanksgiving.