Review Summary: Pushing to overthrow thrones
Yo dawg I heard you like reggae and punk so I took some reggae and put it in your punk so you can punk while you reggae. This lethal association is the combination founding the basis for UK band Claypigeon. Although ska-punk may have drawn out its life in the early 2000’s, Claypigeon frankly don’t care and are here to show that traditional Jamaican jams are still relevant in the scene of punk via taking their own unique spin on the combination.
Time Won’t Cease takes traditional punk rock and experiments with it heavily on this record. This band has plenty of potential and willingness to look beyond the standard juvenile punk song, but still have some work to do before they live up to the likes of Refused. Immediately it is noticeable that the lyrics alone stand out as being above par and provide some interesting ideas. Collectively the lyrics tend to be on various life issues such as capitalism, ageism and do so in a manner that strays away from being angsty or juvenile offering itself in a contemplative frame. Lines such as:
“My progress is at standstill while my head spins like windmills, my legs tire of covering the same land well I spend whole days in a daze staring straight at the same set of walls dreaming of ways to break them down, but I know- the longer I dream the less likely they'll fall”
Show that the band has much more to offer than summer holiday anthems. Catchiness however is something this band does not let up on. The combination of reggae and punk allow for enough diversity to mean new attributes are being thrown at you nearly every song. ’12 Draw’ is a straight up punk song featuring a fast rhythm, crashing drums and sleight of the hand spurts of punk riffage. ‘This Aint War’ contains a crescendo that starts off with a reggae jam, building into a slow burning riff where the vocals croon over in diverse registers eventually leading up to an unexpected breakdown. ‘Mentality’ contains a post-hardcore inspired blend to the instrumentation, veering in all directions. Just when you thought reggae and punk weren’t enough the element of hardcore is tossed around occasionally as well on songs such as ‘…There Is Also A Negative Side’ where sporadic guitar leads are utilized to bring up the energy even further.
Props to the vocals as well, diversity is no problem when it comes to Claypigeon with reggae sections featuring head bobbing rap sections, and energized punk harmonies are backed by the tongue twister extraordinaire at high enough velocities to earn you a few demerit points. I mean just try to keep up with the ferocious speed of the vocals on ‘Down I Go’. Throughout there are also some harsh vocals as well call and response vocals, sealing the deal that this punk record is pretty quirky.
That however doesn’t mean this album is perfect, although there is a lot of diversity some moments fall flat. Notably the band experiments a great deal seemingly when closing songs such as in the end of ‘Mentality’ where it inappropriately dabbles in electronics. Another example of an unsynchronized passage being the ending of ‘…There Is Also a Negative Side’ in which a brief ambient passage stumbles onto the stage’s right. The song fails to build up into the interlude, and then finishes off before achieving any sort of transition or effect being detached from the song seemingly for the sake of quirkiness. The reggae sections become tiring as well due to their lack of diversity, but thankfully they often serve as a resolution in the climatic cycle of the songs’ structures.
Claypigeon is an interesting band full of potential they don’t want to be confined to genre tags and conventions. Only time will tell if they mature to fore fill it, but one thing for sure is they won’t be ceasing any time soon.
