I’m back baby. Trying again to broaden my music horizons by taking literally any suggestions offered to me to try and push me away from my K-pop hole. Though I do like my K-pop hole and will inevitably return there at some point today (1- if you laughed at ‘k-pop hole’, congrats, you’re as immature as me, and 2- BTS released a new album a few weeks ago so what am I supposed to do, NOT dedicate my life to it?). But hey, I’m largely stuck inside due to Covid-19 bantz (I get that it’s killed people but let me have my fun) so let’s try out something new.
This recommendation comes from telling two other friends about my idea, and one of them replying with a much more civil list of 5 albums to try (friend 1 from the last review, that was the amount I was expecting). As a fundamentally basic bitch, I’ve gone for the first one on the list, The Unheavenly Creatures, by Coheed and Cambria. Let’s get it:
Before the album
Well done, friend 2, you also understand my ignorance well. Absolutely never heard of this act before at all. Gonna assume it consists of more than one person, purely due to the ‘and’ in the title. My powers of deduction know no bounds.
I’ve gone onto their Spotify page and BY GEORGE I WAS RIGHT. It looks like there are at least 4 of them. God I’m so smart.
Very first thoughts
Oh we’re in metal, hairy man territory here. The album starts with a ‘prologue’, indicating a storyline, indicating I have to pay attention. Not sure how I feel about that. This album is also from 2018, like Dream Wife that I reviewed last time. It’s interesting how both are rock albums from the same year, and already we’re dealing with two completely opposite beasts here. This one has a narrative, and is at least twice as long. Mmmm. The first proper song does have a strong, clear drumbeat to stomp along to though. Everyone likes that.
As the album goes on
OK this is a full-on metally, heavy, Rock with a capital ‘R’ album. As the songs keep coming I have to be honest, they do all start blending in a little bit. When I googled this group I saw that they were American, which doesn’t surprise me, and that all their albums follow a concept, which is a big overarching science fiction story written by the band’s lead singer. Now I’ve never been a fan of media which requires homework (it’s the main reason I never got into the Marvel movies- I don’t want to watch 5 movies to get what’s happening in the latest release, sorry not sorry) so this does put me off. As does the song length. Not that long songs are necessarily bad, but when you’re unfamiliar with the genre, then the ‘samey’ elements only get emphasised by length. Most of these songs come in well over 5 minutes and I’m a useless millennial- I don’t have the attention span for that! Saying that, it didn’t feel like the songs were super specific to this sci-fi narrative. The lyrics felt applicable to life in general, not just space wars and aliens (I may not have read the details of the narrative the singer wrote, you guess).
A weird recurring theme in this music seemed to be having a really interesting opening in terms of structure/rhythm/instruments, and then blending quickly into a way more standard rock song. I noticed this in Unheavenly Creatures (which began with video game-esque keyboards), Night-Time Walkers (with almost Stranger Thingsy synths) and It Walks Among Us (this had a super stripped back, minimal kind of clanking beginning). It was a little bit of a let down to hear these great beginnings to wash away quite quickly, though in some of these songs these motifs could still be heard in the background.
Another interesting point was the lack of much ‘screaming’ vocal on the album. It snuck in a little bit (mostly on The Gutter) but weirdly the actual vocals sounded very pop-punky, like the singers in those 2000s bands I pretended to listen to (like Anxiety! At the Roller Disco or Terry Eat World). This feel extended to some of the songs when they got up-tempo, most notably in True Ugly, which basically kept getting faster and then slower and then faster. I felt like a dog watching in confusion as the lights on a Christmas tree keep being on and then keep being off.
When the album finishes
Well now I feel I should be wearing a lot more denim and have a beard. I won’t lie, it was long, and yes, I did end up on Instagram for a little while (forgive me), but amongst songs I couldn’t really tell apart there were some nice little moments. In particular, I seemed to gravitate to the more romantically inclined songs, namely Love Protocol (“Maybe goodbye will turn into goodnight”, what basically everyone thinks on a good date), The Pavilion (an epic evocation of, in my interpretation, life as a travelling rock group) and my favourite, the totally tonal shift of the final song, Lucky Stars. I think my favourite lyric of the whole album is the chorus of this gentle, almost indie, guitar lilt: “Thank your lucky stars/That we can call this ours/We’ve had some bad ideas yet/We’re still here in/This life worth dreaming of.” N’awwwh.
Where would you hear this album?
At its best moments I can imagine having a plastic beer cup in my hand while cry-shout-singing along to this at an overcrowded gig. And I don’t even like beer. That’s where I think music like this lives best. Among fans, in a live setting, with a lot of alcohol, facial hair and band t shirts. And that’s no bad thing.
Would it go on a playlist?
Lucky Stars absolutely. Love Protocol and The Pavilion (Long Way Back) probably, for when I want to feel a bit more epic in my tiny Korean room.
D’ya like it?
I don’t think all of it’s for me, but it had enjoyable moments, and hell, if you like beardy men singing well-crafted songs without screeching or overplaying their instruments, this will work just fine.
Comments