You cannot really say what's "rebellion" anymore when it comes to the social sense of the word. The idea of a counter culture is damn near laughable - with how quickly every sub-culture is subsumed into the main, acting counter to the culture at large is the matter of a few weeks of wackiness followed by a reality TV show and then bored acceptance.
If there is one last bastion of rebellion, it is against the world, lacking the trappings of fashion or "look at me" fame whoring. It is a kind ripping at all the external until only the self remains, and then probably rejecting even that as false. There is something of the Rinzai school of Buddhism's maxim here: "First you kill your parents. Then you kill your teachers. Then you kill your gods."
It's also why I loved Off With Their Heads since I first heard their 2008 release From The Bottom. There was no time for bullshit, and what little mercy they showed to the outside world just threw into contrast the utter lack of it that they showed to themselves. After years of emo's self-loathing attempts to get laid, the theme of self-examination continues in punk, but now it's broken off from either experimental time signatures/instrumentation or just dealing with romance - now it's everything. Every possible part of life - from broken homes and the dreams of finding a place to live a normal life to the intake of news to the loss of loved ones (even when they're not terribly fond of them) - is examined and deconstructed from the ground up.
I picked up In Desolation
- if you want to follow the band's time line, the themes and personal input are still the same as From The Bottom, only now they're dealing with all of those problems. The broken homes are still shattered and the hope for some point of stability a promise that grows more distant with every passing day. This makes it sound like a retread, which is a disservice to the album - true, the lamenting of destructive urges is still omnipresent, but there is this sense of fighting back when there's a chance of winning, and knowing when to cut your losses and run rather than just wallow in misery.
That might be the major saving grace of the album - the band - as people and as musicians - know their limitations now, and they know how to make a good Off With Their Heads album. While some bands can get away with experimentation, there's not much these guys can off the mainstream, and they know that - they know where they can be now, and they have traces of the Ramones and Motorhead in the repetition of rhythm and beats. In lesser hands, this would make the four LPs in their catalog dull as old shit, but somehow - again, like the Ramones and Motorhead - it has staying power.
Worth a spin for casual listeners, a Must Buy for revivalists.
Here's the lead track, "Drive"
If there is one last bastion of rebellion, it is against the world, lacking the trappings of fashion or "look at me" fame whoring. It is a kind ripping at all the external until only the self remains, and then probably rejecting even that as false. There is something of the Rinzai school of Buddhism's maxim here: "First you kill your parents. Then you kill your teachers. Then you kill your gods."
It's also why I loved Off With Their Heads since I first heard their 2008 release From The Bottom. There was no time for bullshit, and what little mercy they showed to the outside world just threw into contrast the utter lack of it that they showed to themselves. After years of emo's self-loathing attempts to get laid, the theme of self-examination continues in punk, but now it's broken off from either experimental time signatures/instrumentation or just dealing with romance - now it's everything. Every possible part of life - from broken homes and the dreams of finding a place to live a normal life to the intake of news to the loss of loved ones (even when they're not terribly fond of them) - is examined and deconstructed from the ground up.
I picked up In Desolation
- if you want to follow the band's time line, the themes and personal input are still the same as From The Bottom, only now they're dealing with all of those problems. The broken homes are still shattered and the hope for some point of stability a promise that grows more distant with every passing day. This makes it sound like a retread, which is a disservice to the album - true, the lamenting of destructive urges is still omnipresent, but there is this sense of fighting back when there's a chance of winning, and knowing when to cut your losses and run rather than just wallow in misery.That might be the major saving grace of the album - the band - as people and as musicians - know their limitations now, and they know how to make a good Off With Their Heads album. While some bands can get away with experimentation, there's not much these guys can off the mainstream, and they know that - they know where they can be now, and they have traces of the Ramones and Motorhead in the repetition of rhythm and beats. In lesser hands, this would make the four LPs in their catalog dull as old shit, but somehow - again, like the Ramones and Motorhead - it has staying power.
Worth a spin for casual listeners, a Must Buy for revivalists.
Here's the lead track, "Drive"
No comments:
Post a Comment