Review Summary: Excellent recording quality, a happy audience, and a flat-out sweet setlist makes for a great live album
Recorded during a Christmas party held by the legendary Amphetamine Reptile Records,
AmRep Christmas acts as documentation of
Unsane’s strength as a live band. Each song they play during this concert is backed up with a massive amount of energy, giving an extra punch to the songs themselves. Throughout the record, the audience does not hold back on yelling, screaming, and having an all around good time, however they don’t interfere with the actual performance. Most of the time, they wait until the very end of a song to cheer, adding no distractions to the songs being played.
Surprisingly enough, each instrument is loud and clear. Not one instrument is louder than the other, and you can even make out what vocalist Chris Spencer is yelling. The biggest problem I could find with the record, however, is that the instrumentation can be a bit wonky at times. Such as the guitar lick in “Can’t Stop”, it sounds about as out of place and powerless as a wet noodle, and it’s especially awkward to listen to when both the bass and drums sound pitch perfect.
These little mistakes can be found scattered throughout the disc, however, when they perform a song right, they do it
right. The murky “Swim” is an example of this: It’s loud and heavy, the guitar licks are ferocious, and the bass adds an extra layer of sting. Spencer’s vocals are rude and unapologetic as ever, making “Swim” a highlight of the album.
To put it short,
AmRep Christmas is an excellent live album that showcases what it’s like to be at an Unsane concert. The violent performance, excellent recording quality, and flat out awesome audience participation makes it a worthy listen for any fan of Unsane.
