Modern Life is War - Modern Life is War 7"

Early Modern Life is War release, a three song 7" of noisy, aggressive, and above all else, passionate hardcore punk. From the throwback hooks and infectious chorus of "Destination Death or Better Days", to the fist-pumping chants of "Fakes Like You (Make Me Sick)", this EP shows off Modern Life is War at their most anthemic. And while their sound isn't as ground-breakingly fresh or well-developed as it would become, there is plenty of intersting work on display, with the dense riffs and seething desperation of "The Farmer's Holiday Association" sounding a lot like the band circa Witness. This is a great, blood-pumping release from one of the best hardcore bands of the decade. Raise your voice (and your fist) and sing along.

Modern Life is War 7"

The Best Albums of 2008: From #30 to #21 (and then eventually to #1)

Now that Christmas is over, and now that no one still cares, I figured it was as good a time as any to post my obligatory Best Albums of 2008 list. Over the next few days/weeks/however long I choose to draw this out for, I'll be counting down the 20 best albums released in the past year with an individual post containing a mini-review pertaining to each. But first, and in the interest of covering as much ground as possible, I'll first count down the top ten albums that didn't make the cut, as well as the most disappointing albums of the year and the best non-full length releases.

Note: Due to the density of albums here, I won't be posting links with them. If you want a link for any of the albums seen here, leave a comment and I'll see what I can do.

Biggest Disappointments:

It's worth noting that I don't consider any of the following albums bad, merely disappointing for one reason or another, be it due to hype or my own personal expectations.


Cynic - Traced in Air

I'm probably alone in this one, but I don't really care. After the paradigm-shifting record that was Focus, this just feels empty by comparison.


Foxy Shazam - Introducing...

After the madcap zaniness of The Flamingo Trigger, it was disappointing to see the Cincinnati natives move away from their earlier hardcore-leaning sounds to more keyboard-focused music. And yet, on songs like "Ghost Animals" and "Introducing Foxy", the focus works incredibly well, coming off like piano rock on acid. So what's the problem? While half of this album sounds like the ravings of a demented Billy Joel (I mean this as a compliment), the other half falters, coming off as anywhere from contrived to just plain irritating.


Fucked Up - The Chemistry of Common Life

There was a lot of good hardcore music released this year. This wasn't even in my top ten.


Murder By Death - Red of Tooth and Claw

With their fourth album, Murder By Death stick with the Old West stylings and story-telling motifs that have made past releases so strong, but forget to include enough musical variety to keep it interesting. The album peaks after the first song ("Coming Home"), and the song quality, not to mention the quality of singer Adam Turla's incessant Johnny Cash impersonation/homage, goes downhill from there.


Subtle - ExitingARM

Pitchfork called this "Subtle's pop album", and as far as I'm concerned, that's a pretty accurate descriptor. Unlike Pitchfork however, I'm not sure I can consider this a positive development. ExitingARM sees Subtle move away from the already estranged hip-hop they originated with, further showcasing the side of the group that likes swirling melodies and electronic sounds. The idea is sound, considering this was never a group to confine themselves within conventions anyway, but there are a few problems in the execution. For one, there is an unnecessary level of polish on display in places, occasionally obscuring the voice of its most distinctive vocalist, Dose One (it almost feels like he's on auto-tune). Subtle still manages to pull off a strong pop song on occasion, but they do so with a lower rate of success than before, making long-time fans more likely to just listen to A New White for their fix.

Best Extended Plays (EP's, Splits, etc.)


65daysofstatic - The Distant And Mechanised Glow Of Eastern European Dance Parties

65daysofstatic are post-rock band from the United Kingdom, known primarily for their blending of electronic influences with guitar-heavy build-ups and crescendos. But on The Distant and Mechanised Glow of Eastern European Dance Parties, the group shows off their electronica influences, creating a collection of songs that sounds like a house mix at a high-scale rave. The result is a swirling, infectious concoction that stands up to, and possibly surpasses anything else 65daysofstatic has done. Here's hoping that the dance influences remain apparent on their next release.


Andrew Jackson Jihad - Only God Can Judge Me

This will get its own post soon. These guys were one of my favourite discoveries from this year.


BATS - Cruel Sea Scientist

See Here.


Envy/Jesu Split

This is actually more than long enough to qualify as a full-length, but I'm putting it here so that I can give it its proper due. With Envy, by now you know what you're getting, so you either like it or don't, but Jesu's side features some of Justin Broadrick's best work this side of Godflesh. Broadrick's dense, lengthy, metal-tinged shoegaze is at its strongest here, making this the best of Envy's many EP releases from the past year.


Fire Team Charlie - ...And Everything Will Be Undone 10"

Solid band reminiscent of Daniel Striped Tiger makes intricate and noisy emotive post-hardcore.


The Gaslight Anthem - Senor and the Queen

In the aftermath of The '59 Sound, I had almost forgot about this. These four songs, totaling just over eleven minutes in all, act as the stopgap between the band's first and second albums, with songs like "Say I Won't (Recognize)" showing where they've been and "Wherefore Art Thou, Elvis?" signifying where they were going.


The Mountain Goats - Satanic Messiah

Fantastic free release courtesy of John Darnielle. More on him later.


Red Sparowes - Aphorisms

On this EP, the Red Sparowes create guitar-driven post-rock that burn with intensity. The climaxes are booming, the build-ups are superb, and the song titles are never longer than twelve words, all of which suggests that the band is headed in the right direction. Here's hoping that their next album is the one to finally capture this group's massive potential.


Wingnut Dishwashers Union/James K. Polk and the Family of Friends Split 7"

James K. Polk’s side is delicate folk music which ends up marred by lyrics that make the Andrew Jackson Jihad look like Paul Baribeau, a juxtaposition which makes their two songs very hard to get into. But they're ultimately irrelevant to my enjoyment of this split, because the other side of the split features some of Pat the Bunny’s best work yet. “Free and Alone” is a song about the loneliness and weariness that results from the singer’s state of constant travel, and “Fuck Shit Up (Wha-Na-Na)” is a song that almost manages to be beautiful in spite of its self, showcasing the introspective punk ethos that Wingnut Dishwashers Union exemplifies so perfectly.

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And now, the best albums of the year, starting with #30.


30. United Nations - United Nations

I am not a fan of Glassjaw or Converge. Glassjaw either bores me or does nothing for me and Converge is just too much for me. As for Thursday... well, that's better left unsaid. Suffice then to say that I was not one of the many fanboys heavily anticipating the so-called grindcore/power-violence (really, that's exaggerating it) release from this super-group, featuring Daryl Palumbo of Glassjaw, Geoff Rickley of Thursday, and Ben Koller of Converge. But I ended up checking it out regardless, and I'm glad that I did, because once you get past the deliberate attempt at inaccessibility made by the band, you find an uproarious hardcore release that's far more progressive than it lets on. Is it worth the hype, well, no, not entirely, but it's still a strong album with some vicious commentary that more than matches the belligerent tone of the music. "Say Goodbye to the General Figment of the USS Imagination" deserves special mention for its fantastic use of a saxophone solo drenched in feedback and distortion, the ultimate fall-out after such a relentless onslaught.


29. Black Ships - Omens

Have you ever wondered what sludge metal would sound like if it was sped up to 80 mph? Wonder no more. Straight out of Montreal comes some of the dirtiest hardcore you will ever hear, featuring densely layered guitars tuned all the way down and an angry, throaty roar that perfectly matches the din of noise surrounding it. Or, to put it in layman's terms: This. Fucking. Rips.


28. The Riot Before - Fists Buried in Pockets

Folk-punk generally takes one of two directions (an over-simplification, but bear with me): there is the more folk-sounding, but punk-inspired bands that you'll see on the Plan-It-X roster, and then there's the more true-to-the-name amalgamation of punk and folk, which generally utilizes both acoustic and electric guitars in their application of punk. This is of the latter. On their debut album, Fists Buried in Pockets, The Riot Before create an angry, literate punk album for every Orgcore kid looking for something new. "5 to 9" is a highlight here, telling the tale of a Mexican man who crosses the borders looking for work to support his family. The message isn't subtle in the least, but the song kicks too much ass to fault it for its overtness. The Riot Before balance these political songs with more introspective turns, such as "Words Written Over Coffee" wherein the singer presents an analysis of himself and his choices in life, eventually concluding that the path he has embarked on was the necessary one. Recommended for anyone who liked The Falcon or Chuck Ragan's solo turn.


27. pg.lost - It's Not Me, It's You

2008 was a very strong year for post-rock, and few albums were better than pg.lost's debut album, It's Not Me, It's You. Featuring soaring peaks and searing crescendos, this is the kind of aggressive, treble-heavy post-rock not seen since How Lonely Sits the City!, albeit not quite up to the level of that album. When the band climaxes, the results are often spectacular; the rest of the time, however, their music often reaches a lull, unsure of what to do when not building to a finish. Regardless, pg.lost are better more often than not, and the impression they leave is one of a delicate balance between intensity and nothingness, a prime example of crescendo-core done right (ew, now I feel all dirty).


26. Mesa Verde - The Old Road

What is most impressive about Mesa Verde is their ability utilize a number of techniques of band's that came before them and apply those influences into their music while still sounding like a breath of fresh air in an over-exposed genre. Mesa Verde manages to encompass both extremes of what you would expect from European screamo at the same time, switching back and forth between glistening post-rock build-ups (“A Deep Sleep Without Dreams”), and unkempt bursts of raw energy (“Return to Victories”), never content to rely solely on one or the other. At their most progressive, they sound like an even more post-rock leaning version of Sed Non Satiata, and at their most violent, they border on a more abrasive La Quiete.


25. Killing the Dream - Fractures

Killing the Dream are a hardcore band from Sacramento that utilizes the heaviness of metal with the musical harmonies of melodic hardcore. Fractures is the band's third full-length album, taking the formula from their past outings and refining it through the course of twelve superb bursts of forceful, energetic hardcore. The result is one of the year's best hardcore releases, one that manages to be both progressive in focus and aggressive in practice (Fucked Up, take notes).


24. Mogwai - The Hawk is Howling

Mogwai, though long considered a benchmark for post-rock, have never been a band that has thrilled me. Their so-called opus, Young Team, feels terribly overrated to me, albeit definitely different when presented with the stereotypical example of post-rock, and my other experiences with the band have left me even more apathetic. But The Hawk is Howling changed that for me. While it was met with lukewarm hype by most, to me it showcases a band that never tries to do too much, and as a result never manages to completely blow the listener away, but instead focuses on churning out interesting melodies and captivating riffs. Unlike on Young Team, where Mogwai's emphasis is on volume, The Hawk is Howling shows a lot more variety to the band; the trippy synesthesia of "The Sun Smells Too Loud", the haunting piano of "I'm Jim Morrison, I'm Dead", the gentle yet ominous progression of "I Love You, I'm Going to Blow Up Your School"... all great songs, all of which show different musical emphases by the band. The Hawk is Howling may not have much in peaks, but it more than makes up for that in its absorbing and refreshing manners of progression.


23. ...Who Calls So Loud - ...Who Calls So Loud

Taking their name from Dickens and their pedigree from Funeral Diner, ...Who Calls So Loud have created some of the best and most varied emotive hardcore of 2008 with their self-titled debut. Through the course of this album, the California four-piece works its way through some of the most intensely passionate epics since, well... Funeral Diner.

Hey, did I say they were ex-Funeral Diner? I did? Alright, just making sure. I wouldn't want to violate a statute of limitations or anything.

However, while the comparisons to their former group are inevitable, it's not like ...Who Calls So Loud don't deviate from their parent group, as the band makes a point of showing more variety to their assault than Funeral Diner ever did. For example, "Assume the Power Focus" begins with a delicate country lick that comes off as beautifully emotional without a word being uttered, a far cry from the dark, dense, and viciously aggressive approach of The Underdark. The result of this more varied approach is that ...Who Calls So Loud ends up feeling more refreshing than redone, making it one of the year's strongest releases.


22. Baader Brains - The Complete Unfinished Works of the Young Tigers

Mike Kirsch is back, and with yet another band. The former member of Please Inform the Captain... and Bread and Circuits has returned with The Complete Unfinished Works of the Young Tigers, the first full-length album by Baader Brains. Baader Brains was formed back in 2005 by Kirsch and former Swing Kids/Bread and Circuits member Jose Palafox, with their name acting both as a play on Bad Brains, as well as a tribute to the Red Army Faction and the Baader-Meinhof group. They play a relentless, heavy and revolutionary brand of hardcore that could be very aptly compared to the members' former band, Bread and Circuits. Like in previous Kirsch bands, sampling is used prominently, breaking up the fiercely defiant anthems with sarcastic educational film clips and the like. Angry, pointed, and resistant to the end, The Complete Unfinished Works of the Young Tigers is another chapter in the life of a musical revolutionary.


21. Made Out of Babies - The Ruiner

Noisy, tumultuous, and occasionally terrifying, The Ruiner is the third album of New York noise metal band, Made Out of Babies. Featuring members of Red Sparowes and Battle of Mice, Made Out of Babies take the deafening guitars of the former and the ominous post-metal temperament of the latter, combine them, and then add a lot of noise for good measure. Where it works is in the incredible atmosphere created, much in part due to the vocals of singer Julie Christmas, who may or may not be a banshee (I haven't confirmed it). Christmas sings much like the secretly evil child in a horror movie talks - you know, the one who insists upon saying everything in a really unsettling voice as the music around him suddenly builds to an operatic tension, just so you know that he's fucking evil. When surrounded with the kind of unholy racket the rest of the band puts up here - as emphasized by some stellar guitar work courtesy of Brendan Tobin and Eric Cooper - Christmas sounds like she might just be the anti-christ.


Additional entries will be posted in the days to come.

Lifetime - Tinnitus EP

Lifetime - Tinnitus


This EP was part of a supremely awesome Zen post, so you can check that out and/or download it here.

Lifetime was a melodic hardcore/pop-punk band from New Jersey, formed by Ari Katz and Dan Yemin (who would later go on to play in Kid Dynamite and Paint It Black) in 1991. Before breaking up (for the first time) in 1997, the group was heralded as one of the strongest acts to come out of the New Jersey punk scene, a pop-punk band that was just underground enough to be cool to like. The Tinnitus 7” was released in 1994, and features a brasher, more aggressive sound than the poppy, streamlined approach shown in their later, more famous works. It would eventually be collected in The Seven Inches collection a couple of years later, along with other early EP’s released by the band.


“Isae Aldy Beausoleil” begins the record with a screeching riff, and immediately transitions into an aggressively fast-paced track, showing the band’s superb ability to seamlessly change pace. Much of the credit belongs to Yemin, who weaves an endless loop of riffs in stream-like fashion, only breaking to build tension. The next song, “Ferret”, shows more of the same, with the highlight coming just over two minutes in when the band completely tears it up coming out of a solitary bass line. “Starsixtynine” brings with it a heaving instrumental combination right off the bat, reaching calamitous levels of energy as the throaty yelp of the title track brings the end to another break. This capability for building momentum out of nothing is a huge strength of the band, and it’s exhibited to perfection throughout Tinnitus. The last song, “Ampersand”, is possibly the most cathartic of all, starting off slowly as the guitar and bass intertwine, working together to some leisurely yet interesting melodies. Eventually, the band breaks yet again (Are you noticing a pattern yet?), with the drums and guitars eventually bringing the pace to a frantic rate as Katz screams his heart out in confronting yet another faceless oppressor. The emotion and sentiment come off as even more real thanks to the production, which has a rawness to it that really makes these songs unique in the spectrum of pop-punk, showing that layers of polish are anything but necessary in crafting intricate punk gems.

This is angry, passionate punk music full of throaty, cathartic gasps and some great fucking melodies. In other words, it’s what I’ve been told every other Lifetime release is. Except Tinnitus actually lives up to the reputation.

Modern Life is War - Witness

Modern Life is War - Witness


Say hello to the best thing to ever come out of Iowa.

(I’m pretty confident about that statement)

Formed by five friends growing up in tiny Marshaltown, Iowa, Modern Life is War is a hardcore band that utilizes a keen understanding of mood and strong, layered guitars to create a diverse and exceptional blend of hardcore that is entirely their own. In 2005, they released their second album, Witness, reaching a pinnacle in their songwriting career in the process. The album focused on the trials and tribulations of the modern generation, based on the lives of the band members and the people they grew up with.


What makes this album so different, and so exceptional when placed against the backdrop of today’s more generic hardcore, is the pronounced effort and energy flowing through the music, as well as the band’s ability to develop mood. We’ll start by focusing on the former. In many ways, Witness feels like a labour of love, and songs like “D.E.A.D.R.A.M.O.N.E.S.” exemplify this feeling impeccably. In the song, the band describes their humble beginnings and their lifelong desire to play music and escape the day-in, day-out boredom of small town living. With lines like “Save me from ordinary, save me from myself” and “I just wanna go back home and turn my stereo until the rhythm melts my bones”, Modern Life is War perfectly outlines their intense passion for the music they play, showing that its not just a way of life, but a reason to live. Much of this emotion is conveyed through the singing of vocalist Jeffrey Eaton. His voice is coarse and unrelenting, yet still melodic enough to flow with the music, as his breathless shrieks aim to deafen alongside the frenzy of the guitars. It’s almost as if a battle of volume ensues between Eaton and the rest of the band each time the music picks up, with both sides trying to outdo the other in a feverous display of enthusiasm. In short, when Eaton screams “we’re playing as hard as we can”, you damn well better believe it.

As far as mood goes, Modern Life is War commands and controls a distinct atmosphere throughout Witness. The music evokes feelings of an after-dusk stroll through an industrial wasteland, barren and desolate as far as the eye can see. The soundscapes conjured up are bleak and unfeeling, directly representing the band’s take on modern life, portraying the world around them not as ruthlessly antagonizing, but as generally apathetic and uncaring. The twin guitars strike a delicate balance between melody and the dense layers of distortion they carve that melody into. In tone and feel, the guitars sound like a better produced version of those on Naked Raygun’s Jettison, churning out a very comparable mood, only coming off darker, denser and more paranoid in the process.

“Are you a messenger boy?"
"No, I'm the judge and jury. If you're gonna call the cops...you better fucking hurry. There's no use begging for your life. You made your choice and now you pay the price...you fucking bastards! Bastards! Bastard!"

Place defines much of who we are as people, and the influence of Anytown, U.S.A. shines through in the uneasy urgency that peppers the band’s blaring approach to hardcore. As such, much of the thematic subject matter seems inspired by the band’s shared coming of age in sleepy Marshaltown, IA. Restlessness abounds in both lyrical content and musical background, like the band is pissed as hell at anything and everything and needs desperately to let it out. The caged frustration is palpable, as the band recklessly unleashes their bottled anger on every track, taking only the briefest of pauses for rest. ‘The race we are running is a joke’, Eaton screams in the tense and agitated “Young Man Blues”, ‘and I’m a drop-out”.


A lot of the album’s content revolves around the idea of what to do when there’s no longer a clear path to follow. The song “John and Jimmy”, for example is, in Eaton’s own words, “about how [John and Jimmy] were over seas fighting not necessarily to defend the ideals that we were over there supposedly trying to defend, but because they didn't know what to do with their lives and they felt like they were going nowhere”. The sombre, two-part “Hell is for Heroes” follows this idea of what happens to the rebels when they just can’t keep it up anymore, but don’t know what else to do. These songs paint a picture of a generation of youth who don’t know how to enter society, but see no alternative and feel like they have to start settling down and living ‘normal lives’. In context, this presents a very powerful problem to the listener, of whether one should abandon their ideals for the easier life of which they’re told they should lead, or continue on the more gruelling path of a life opposed. There’s no easy answer, and Modern Life is War agonizes over the fork in the road, making Witness not only something of a concept album, but a very personal creation at that.

With Witness, Modern Life is War created nothing less than a hardcore masterpiece, an album obsessed with internal conflict and external hell. The songs crafted are thunderously dense pieces of hardcore goodness, chalked full of emotion and ferocity. Never has any piece of music so aptly summed up the restless desperation of growing up in a small town, that aimless desire of wanting frantically to leave but having nowhere to go. Modern Life is War has since broken up, but their legacy will live on through the impassionate, frustrated brilliance of this album.


and i say to all the young wild ones...for you...yeah on your way up..the world isnt against you, my dear, it just doesn't care

'cuz we're all D.E.A.D.R.A.M.O.N.E.S.

Making come true our modest impossible dreams.
Stuck in public school classrooms at age 15.
Those long hot days just before the summer...
Knowing that we're stuck here...
And there's something happening somewhere.
Knowing we know we gotta get there.
It's true what they say...
Death is more perfect than life...
That's why we already died.
What could have been?
We don't wanna know.
Tonight we'll get our kicks.
Tonight we're all letting go!
'Cause we're all Dead Ramones!

Sore back!
Sore feet!
A ragtag army and we're sick in the heat.
We're not pretty and we're not rich.
We're gonna hafta fucking work for it.
It's our life!
We do what we choose!
Black Jeans.
Black Shirt.
Black Shoes.
Mom and Dad still don't approve.
Twenty eight shows.
28 days.
Pulling up new rogues all along the way.
I'm just another face in this desperate youth parade.
And all the bunk beds locked doors, hardwood, sweat,
Guts, skateboards, cold war bomb shelter basement screams, no sleep, good dreams.
We're playing hard as we can and a whole lotta time stuck in the van.
Reading the graffiti on every bathroom wall in truck stop fast food hell.
Save me from ordinary.
Save me from myself.
Another punk rock summer came and went
Now I just wanna go back home and turn up my stereo
Until the rhythm melts my bones 'cause I'm a Dead Ramone.
D.E.A.D.R.A.M.O.N.E.S.

A fantastic song, and one that exemplifies the reasons why we love the music we do as much as we do. It's about passion, it's about emotion, it's about catharsis, and it's about the raw, heartfelt ideals that guide it all. It's about the meanings greater than the music itself, and the freedom that the music represents. A harmless pop diddy that enters your ears with a mildly catchy bassline that you tap your foot to means little if it's devoid of meaning or substance for the listener to lock onto. Sure, it has an appeal, but its appeal is purely cosmetic, like putting lip-gloss on a mannequin. Ultimately, the great music has appeal that transcends the basic equation of guitar + bass + drum = musics. Great music has a soul, something intangible brought on by an emotional core that makes the listener feel something, good or bad. And not just "lightly-bob-your-head-and-tap-your-foot" good, good as in reaching an emotional connection, a direct sense of relatability with whatever it is you're listening to. 'Without that, it's just masturbation.'

Anyway, this rambling was brought to you by another listen to Modern Life is War's Witness, of which a more substantive review with link will be up tomorrow.

Ignite - Our Darkest Days [Ltd. Tour Edition]

Ignite - Our Darkest Days


Storming out of one of the wealthiest and most populous suburbs in California, the infamous Orange County, come Ignite. Formed in 1993, the band first gained recognition for their politically charged brand of punk with a series of EP’s, a full length and an almost inhuman touring schedule.

Following a lengthy tour across Europe, the band returned with their second album, 2000’s A Place Called Home, a commercial breakthrough after which the band took some time off to work on side-projects (Lead-singer Zoli Teglas briefly became the Danzig replacement du jour for the Misfits reunion band, before joining bassist Brett Rasmussen in California United). In 2004, Ignite came back from their hiatus, playing shows together in the U.S. for the first time in two years. Shortly afterwards, the band began recording their third album, Our Darkest Days. Released in 2006, the album represents another strong effort from one of the few true ideologues left in mainstream punk.


The first thing any listener will likely notice will be the unique, almost operatic singing style of vocalist Zoli Teglas. Teglas’s unusually high cries can be either an intriguing addition that boosts the levels of melodic harmony the band works with so well, or it can be off-putting, detracting from the excellence of the music. However, beyond the gimmicky appeal of such vocals is the way Teglas complements the music perfectly, melding with the higher chords to further accentuate the passion and excitement of each musical crescendo. Teglas belts his lines with conviction and urgency, railing against the short-sighted cultural dogma he sees around him. Topics include the realm of global politics, with songs concerning the tumultuous Iraq War (“Bleeding”), and the American political climate of fear (“Fear is Our Tradition”), as well as more personal songs dealing with the trials of the individual in such a climate (“Strength”). The band seems truly troubled by many of the directions they see their country taking, and this is capped off in style with a cover of the U2 classic (U2’s only classic, as far as I’m concerned) “Sunday, Bloody Sunday”. Originally about the ongoing 'sectarian violence' in Northern Ireland, when placed in the context of the rest of the album, the song turns into a more general condemnation of the results of war and the ultimate destruction it causes.

Is this the death of liberty?
Is this the price that life has come to mean?

While the topics presented are neither terribly original nor profound, they don’t have to be. The strengths of Our Darkest Days lie in the execution of these ideas, as the band works well within the concept suggested by their album title to create an atmosphere of hopelessness and embittered defeat. What surprises is how they manage to both envelop the listener with their disillusioned take on modern society, as well as create a phenomenally catchy punk album, akin to something you might hear from Rise Against, Bad Religion or any number of melodic radio stalwarts. The music is relentlessly appealing, contrasting with and overshadowing the bleakness of the subject matter in the process. But should it be any surprise that the music takes center stage here? Few straight-up punk outfits can pull off the technicality and ingenuity of Ignite, especially when working within such a traditionally restrictive genre.

Successfully utilizing a number of creative riffs and song structures, the band often tiptoes between their faster, hardcore roots, and the slower, more melody-obsessed leanings of their later works. And, with the possible exception of the acoustic final track, “Live for Better Days”, not a minute of filler is to be found here. The songs are well-written, well-executed, and hold within them just enough originality and variety to appeal to even the most jaded of punk fans. Never do the guitar riffs seem recycled, but they manage to blend together well enough to make this a completely cohesive and enjoyable listen. With Our Darkest Days, Ignite have managed to string together 36 minutes of unbridled punk passion, mixing musical harmony with lyrical fury to make an album that appeals to fans of both hardcore and mainstream punk alike.

(This version of the album was originally released while the band was touring Europe, and contains two bonus songs: the bonus track "Last Time", and a demo version of "Bleeding")

we built this all
our darkest days