The Blood Brothers

Young Machetes

Written by: TL on 20/02/2007 00:38:02

After going to the recent Blood Brothers gig in Denmark, it was painstakingly obvious to the staff here at rockfreaks that we'd totally neglected reviewing the bands most recent full length "Young Machetes", and while it has been some time since it was released, I'm the man for correcting this mistake, so without further ado, let's get it on.

If I had to describe the sound the Seattle five-piece have developed over the course of their already substantial career, I'd probably tell you to imagine the musical equivalent of nails on a blackboard. The band sounds like someone took At The Drive-In, gave them the hysterical high pitched vocals of Billy Talent, whipped them into a frenzy and threw them down the stairs, ordering them to play at the same time. In case that doesn't paint the picture for you, a more technical description would include terms like highly energetic and chaotic post hardcore / art punk.

Cutting to the case, opener "Set Fire To The Face On Fire" let's everyone know the band means business, with the opening "FIRE FIRE FIRE" screams of frontman Johnny Whitney still resembling the wails of 'a child being tortured', and the chaotic plunge into a storm of distorted guitar action, building up a momentum that last's throughout the song. It also set's the stage for most of what is supposed to go on on this record, with the majority of the tracks sticking with the same chaotic style. This does by no means make the songs lack identity, as each and everyone of them has it's own unique mood or theme, giving it a strong expression that'll make an impact in your mind as soon as you can get i wrapped around the very weird and "like pulling the tail of your cat"-ish soundscape.

Highlights of these kind are especially the bouncy "Laser Life", a song that takes the prize as the albums' best in my opinion, and also "Nausea Shreds Yr Head" and "Huge Gold AK-47". Getting around to track 7, the band takes the speed out of the record a bit, delivering three songs that are more similar to the likes of "Love Rhymes With Hideous Car Wreck", where of the best are the two latter ones, namely "1,2,3,4 Guitars" and "Lift The Veil, Kiss The Tank". After these, the album picks up the pace again for a while, to at last fade out over the two closing tracks, that are a bit more quiet than the onslaught that's been delivered so far. And ending I think could have been done a bit better, as the said tracks fade a bit into anonymity compared to the rest.

With that stated, there isn't much bad left to say about this album. It's highly energetic and danceable, it makes one hell of a memorable impression with more than a handful of the songs, and most importantly it isn't really like anything you've heard before. It's living proof that you CAN be different and artsy and energetic and hysterical at the same time, without losing power or quality in your music. Quite an achivement to say the least.

Download: "Set Fire To The Face On Fire", "Laser Life", "Lift The Veil, Kiss The Tank"
For the fans of: At The Drive-In, Billy Talent
Listen: MySpace

Release Date 10.10.2006
V2 Records

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