God, Please Save These Troubled States

I realize that there's not much you can do with the genre of punk rock; I will not declare that it's dead, because I've seen quite a few bands over the past year that continue to interest me and prove that punk can still be relevant. (The South Bay's Dangers are a prime example of that.)

What I like so much about A Wilhelm Scream isn't that they're reinventing the genre of punk that mid-90's Epitaph bands dominated. Listening to Career Suicide, I feel that AWS are more confident that they can create a melodic punk record that is intellectually challenging as well as musically impressive.


It's hard to pinpoint exactly what this record sounds like. I hear Bad Religion. I hear the Descendents. And I hear a whole lot of metal. Updates from the band earlier this year claimed that their follow-up to Ruiner would be faster than anything they'd written before.

They're not lying. With the opening riffs and vocals of "I Wipe My Ass With Showbiz," you know that they mean business. Breakneck guitars, Nuno Pereira's rough and catchy vocals (cleverly harmonized with guitarist Trevor Reilly's back ups) grab your attention. "Mother, I sold my soul for management," Pereira sings in the chorus, and then we're all treated to a blistering solo, followed by harmonized guitar leads. Just a minute into the song and it's over.

This immediately leads into "5 to 9," the album's first "single." It's not unfamiliar territory for the band; it's just so goddamn fast! What they do manage to master this time around is the art of the odd tempo. Listening to this song, the timing shifts all over the place, from one distorted riff to the next atypical chord. The chorus features the now perfected vocal duo of Pereira and Reilly, who have never sounded better.

But it's the third song on Career Suicide, "The Horse," that truly represents how diverse, smart, and impressive this album is. A blinding riff stops at the opening verse: "I am just waiting in a room / I only sleep but half the time." Behind this? Newcomer Brian Robinson taps out perhaps the most ridiculous bass sweeps I've ever heard. When the guitars begin to harmonize over that, it's a moment of pure instrumental bliss.

The song moves on to some beautifully sung choruses and then breaks halfway through, almost becoming a separate song again. Guitarists Reilly and Chris Levesque hold nothing back. Muted riffs, tremelos, hammer-ons, pull-offs, tapping: It's all here and gloriously strapped together.

This is why Career Suicide succeeds. Instead of sounding like a tech-punk mess, Reilly's structures, coupled with some infectious vocal lines, make this speedy album sound relentless and calculated. Each lyrical line, each guitar lead, every bass run: It belongs exactly where you find it.

"Jaws 3, People 0" is another perfect example of this. Pereira's drill-instructor vocal duties assault your ears (in a good way); it's clear that these boys know how to string together long passes of lyrics in such a short time. The songs are so fast and so much is stuck into every passage, but, once again, nothing is jumbled. After a midsection with 4 separate solos (!!!!!) comes one of my favorite parts of the album: Those melodic vocals I've come to adore so much.

• Oh, when I saw them floating out to the river,
  the cold inside my stomach was a hunger to me.
  And if the devil makes a mess of all the raw meat,
  Let him be.
  
  Oh how my captain sailed it straight up the middle,
  but the crooked lines are quicker when you're snorting them in.
  Because if the devil's at your door you leave it open.
  Let him in.
  

It's hard for me to write this review without delving deep into every song. I don't skip a single track, beginning to end. The chorus to "These Dead Streets" is so anthemic that I can't wait for them to tour 'round these parts. "Get Mad, You Son of A Bitch" and "We Built This City! (On Debts and Booze)" are epic and will inspire fists pumps and pile ons. This is surely one of the best albums released this year.

But my favorite song? The anti-Mitt Romney jam, "Pardon Me, Thanks a Lot." The most straight-forward of all the songs, it lambasts the politician's horrific economic policies that have so negatively affected his hometown. AND IT IS SO GODDAMN CATCHY!

Ok. I'll stop. But get this album. It's great to bike to. And run to. And have mosh parties and sing-a-longs in your bedroom to. Get on it!