The Get Up Kids - Something to Write Home About

Artist: The Get Up Kids
Album: Something To Write Home About
Year: 1999
Rating: 89/100

 After having burst onto the scene explosively with the superb debut full-length effort "Four Minute Mile", Kansas City's Get Up Kids then cemented their place among the record collections of punk rock kids around the world with their sophomore effort, "Something to Write Home About". The band added keyboardist James DeWees (erstwhile skin pounder for friends and local metalcore heavyweights Coalesce and the main man behind Reggie and the Full Effect) to their line up, and a fuller, broader sound came about as a result.

Unlike their contemporaries in Sunny Day Real Estate, Texas is the Reason and the Promise Ring, the Get Up Kids' sound is more firmly rooted in punk than in alternative rock, as the raucous, emotionally charged opening track "Holiday" attests. Lead vocalist Matt Pryor is more than ably backed up by guitarist Jim Suptic, who takes lead vocals on "Ten Minutes". Elsewhere on the album, the balance between the slower and uptempo numbers is one that's easily kept, with the slower numbers mercifully avoiding the trap of being overly slushy or trite. On the uptempo side, "Holiday", "Red Letter Day", "Ten Minutes" and "I'm A Loner Dottie, A Rebel" are the stand outs, and the slower triumphs include the slow building "My Apology", and the lush "I'll Catch You".

"Something to Write Home About" was the record that put the Get Up Kids on the world's musical map, and with good reason. Unlike a lot of more modern records labelled under the "Emo" moniker, the sincerity and emotion behind this record is very genuine, and that alone is enough to recommend it highly.

Track list

1. Holiday
2. Action & Action
3. Valentine
4. Red Letter Day
5. Out of Reach
6. Ten Minutes
7. The Company Dime
8. My Apology
9. I'm A Loner Dottie, A Rebel
10. Long Goodnight
11. Close to Home
12. I'll Catch You

Nails - You Will Never Be One Of Us

Artist: Nails

Album: You Will Never Be One of Us

Year: 2016

Rating: 86/100

After two short and physically punishing listens in the form of 2010's "Unsilent Death" and its 2013 follow up "Abandon All Life", southern California's extreme sonic terrorists Nails evidently decided that we haven't been punished enough in sonic terms. As a result, a third dose of punishment arrives for the listener in the form of the not so subtly titled "You Will Never Be One of Us". 

From the off, it's obvious that it actually physically hurts to endure this, but that is undoubtedly the way in which Nails want to play it. Drummer Taylor Young hits harder than a slapshot from Shea Weber, while the wall of noise from John Gianelli and Todd Jones make Jones's fierce barked vocals by and large incomprehensible. With the tracks "Violence is Forever" and "They Come Crawling Back" taking up just about half the album's running time, with the other tracks clocking in under two minutes, Nails have fashioned a way to pack in as many influences as they possibly can by turning the volume up to 12 and finding new, finely nuanced ways in which to pummel the listener into submission as best they can.

"You Will Never Be One of Us" may not be the most original record you'll ever hear. But when it comes to genuine extremity, there are very few bands out there that can compete with Nails on that sort of level. It's hateful, nihilistic, and misanthropic, just like all good records of its ilk should be, and it's definitely not for everyone. On that basis alone, "You Will Never Be One of Us" is definitely worth the sonic assault on your senses.


Track list:

1. You Will Never Be One of Us
2. Friend To All
3. Made To Make You Fail
4. Life is a Death Sentence
5. Violence is Forever
6. Savage Intolerance
7. In Pain
8. Parasite
9. Into Quietus
10. They Come Crawling Back

Katatonia - The Fall of Hearts

Artist: Katatonia
Album: The Fall of Hearts
Year: 2016
Rating: 91/100


Stockholm's favourite gloomsters have been gradually evolving their sound ever since they first adopted a cleaner, riff-based edge on "Discouraged Ones" for nearly twenty years now. Previous effort "Dead End Kings" pushed the envelope that little bit further, and now with their tenth full-length effort, "The Fall of Hearts", and new guitarist Roger Öjersson and drummer Daniel Moilanen joining stalwarts Jonas Renkse, Anders Nyström and Niklas Sandin in the fold, expectations are understandably high.


Opening track "Takeover" balances the tuning Katatonia used for their 2009 effort "Night is the New Day" with some almost Tool-esque riffs and atmospherics. Unlike "Dead End Kings", where the production was layered to a fault, thus proving to be a bit exhausting to listen to at times, the songs on "The Fall of Hearts" get a lot more breathing space and do more to capture the listener's attention. "Serein", the magnificent "Old Heart Falls" and "Decima" all have the same strengths, without any weak spots; they are united by one theme, the same sense of melancholia and longing. "Old Heart Falls" in particular catches the attention with its sparse intro, and the build into its simply stunning, passionately delivered chorus.


Though "The Fall of Hearts" feels a little too long on the whole, the song material is strong enough to carry it through, and I'll be damned if the best parts on the whole album don't represent Katatonia at their very best. Definitely a contender for one of the best albums of 2016.


Track List:

1. Takeover
2. Serein
3. Old Heart Falls
4. Decima
5. Sanction
6. Residual
7. Serac
8. Last Song Before the Fade
9. Shifts
10. The Night Subscriber
11. Pale Flag
12. Passer