Review Summary: Please don’t look at the album cover and decide not to listen to this
Write This Down is a band that has seen many different obstacles. When they first started out a few years back they were an unsigned, six-piece, cookie-cutter post hardcore band. The
Alarm The Alarm Ep was a overall solid release, but didn’t really do anything to make
Write This Down stand out from the sea of bands so similar to them. But, nonetheless, Tooth And Nail Records decided to take a risk with
Write This Down and sign them. After massive lineup changes,
Write This Down was dwindled down to 3 members including a single guitarist, a drummer and a lead singer. Thankfully the original singer stuck around, providing what is easily the best part of the band.
Band Members:
Chad Nichols - Drums
Johnny Collier - Vocals
Nate Rockwell – Guitar
As you can see there is an absence of bass throughout
Write This Down’s entire self-titled debut. It’s obviously there, but because there is a studio bassist, the bass really doesn’t stick out all that well. The rest of the instrumentation is a rather stripped down version of the old
Write This Down. It seems as though they have traded the semi-technical guitar riffs with repetitive guitar hooks, and unique song structures with an overabundance of choruses. But this isn’t musically a horrible thing. Although being repetitive
Write This Down is a band that knows how to write catchy songs. The first single,
Renegades repeats the chorus so many times that there isn’t much room for much else to be put in there. But the chorus is insanely catchy. I guarantee that you will be singing (or screaming)
We are the Renegades, we shoot to kill, we shoot to kill over and over again. The song stops a minute and a half in and starts to slowly build up into a climatic bridge followed by a few of the choruses thrown in for good measure. Overall I would say that Write This Down picked a fitting single.
Renegades shows the raw ferocity that makes Write This Down a band that is really ready to shine.
There are two remakes from the EP that Write This Down felt necessary to put on here, Alarm The Alarm and Kings and Consolers. Personally, the only real song that I enjoyed off of the EP was With Kings and Consolers, so I was happy to see that they were including it on their debut record. There are a few minor changes that are made throughout the song. The guitar part is different for the main parts of the song, and the song is overall faster. Also the breakdown/bridge features a completely different instrument section, adding to the dynamic that I felt was lacking in the first place. I can’t find the original version of Alarm the Alarm but the remake of the song is a great way to be introduced to Write This Down. It has it all, the screaming/singing duel vocals, the pop-sensibilities and driving guitars. With this track Johnny Collier really has a chance to show off his clean vocals, and boy, are they good. Although he really doesn’t have a super huge range, Collier manages to bring the listeners on a journey throughout the entire 11 tracks.
But there are a few areas that Write This Down can improve on. Most noticeably in the lyrics department. Most of the songs are
overly preachy. I am not one to hate on a band for voicing their opinion, quite to the contrary, I enjoy when a band does this. It makes the music seem more honest. But most of the songs have many lines taking about their Christianity. It would be nice to see Write This Down branch out a little more and use more literary elements in their song writing as well. But it’s only their debut album so they do have a lot of time to improve.
With Write This Down’s self titled debut, we see a band that seems to have been around a while. Overall the songs seem very polished and well written. Every song has a part that will get stuck in your head and make you want to listen to this again.
