Review Summary: State Radio melds all of the sounds of their previous works and secures every minute with supremacy.
State Radio – Year of the Crow
State Radio:
Chad Urmston: Vox, Guitar
Chuck Fay: Bass, Piano, Organ, Keyboards, Back-up Vox
Mike Najarian – Drums, Vox
Since their 2002 debut, Flag of the Shiners, State Radio have evolved as a band. Along with constantly picking-up and dropping new drummers, the group has realigned their sounds with all different genres. Their debut felt them experimenting with a raw, rock sound, while they eventually became a reggae-rock group. From there they turned away and took on an indie pop sound. Finally, we have their second full album release, Year of the Crow. This album perfectly blends elements of each genre of State Radio’s past into their own indie fusion sound with an unpredictable tracklist and extremely talented members. Whereas their first full length LP, Us Against the Crown, lacked in slow, monotonous, dragged-out jams, Year of the Crow cleans up its act and beats frantic drum beats and screaming vocals into our heads. Never the less, we still find ourselves grooving peacefully to the angelic anthems. Each song is played with full emotion and impassioned musicianship. Year of the Crow is just a group of three men spilling their hearts out into a superb album.
Almost every song on Year of the Crow is related somehow to politics. Yet somehow, not one song is about the same subject. Reoccurring themes of governmental issues and laughable bureaucratic jokes fall in and out of the spotlight of Year of the Crow. Far from being seen as political activists, State Radio’s politically “charged” lines never really shift the mood or the feeling of the music, they just add some gleeful and ironic moments to the listener. The first track, Guantanamo, is a prime example of this.
“Jefferson roll over, tell old Stalin the news, They got 'em locked up in castroland” and lines like
“War president is a criminal” show disagreement towards the government, but these lines are not really the focus of the track. Lyrics like these show up constantly throughout Year of the Crow and are fleetingly small pleasures, but, as I’ve said before, they are not the focus of the album. So, let’s move on.
Year of the Crow takes a dive into raw, powerful rock. While obviously not as badass as heavy metal, or as musically skilled as band like Zeppelin and Rage Against the Machine, the pounding tracks succeed anyway. Gang of Thieves is excellently performed, with an intense, rasping screaming chorus and a bumping drum beat. While on the subject of screaming, the ear-splitting yelps at the end of Guantanamo will chill the listener to the core. The screams are nothing but raw emotion thrown out into our ears. It’s either frightfully beautiful, or gracefully chaotic. Either way, it is an interesting listen. CIA, on the other hand, is a tradition verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus rock track. A harmonic bridge helps the track come along, while the obviously political track is less of a hateful sign against the government and more of the life of a CIA agent. The hard rock side of Year of the Crow is creatively paired most often with the reggae elements. Barn Storming, on of the album’s strongest tracks, is the story of a boy going off to fight overseas, but not without receiving a special present from a pretty girl. The lyrics are so entertaining they completely overshadow the psychedelically strange feedback sounds playing throughout the song. The horns are a nice addition to the song, giving it a more home-style, old-fashioned feel.
The real beauty of Year of the Crow lies in the albums slow jams. Thanks to The Story of Benjamin Darling Part 1, the words “goddamn it” will never be the same. The acoustic sound, similar to the Decemberists, tells a story about Benjamin Darling, the slave who saved his master from certain death during a storm on a ship. The chorus is completely heartfelt; never before have I heard Chad Urmston put so much emotion into a song. Fight No More is a tragic reggae croon with some strange falsetto choruses and an emotional cello performance. Bassist Chuck Fay’s vocals during the final minute of the song are flawless, carefully portraying everything the song stands for. The drumming is a highlight of Fight No More, with the steady bass beat pounding in your ears. Clocking in at around seven minutes, Fight No More will leave the listener with that uprising feeling in their heart. I know that sounds extremely cheesy, but yes, it’s that good.
Rash of Robberies is a song entirely on its own from the rest of the album. This song stands alone as something completely new from anything State Radio has ever done before. The screaming vocals, the nonsensical lyrics, and the pounding drums all seem to be building up. Finally, the entire song is thrown into a downcast abyss of slow, haunting lyrics crooned over a weeping guitar riff. However, we only receive a glimpse of this new side of the song before we are swept up and away again into more yelling and confusion. Yet again, the song breaks down entirely, and the soft vocals take over once again. This time, the slow jam begins a build up of its own. The crooning voices take on an optimistic outlook, and the pressure begins to build. However, just when we feel on the brink of a delightful surprise, the drums kick in and the pounding chaotic mess of music overtakes us again. The familiar break down ensues, and we being this strange build-up once again. The building continues for almost three minutes and the listener is at the peak of their anxiety, full of a war chanting pride, when the building up finally ends, and a ten-second riff follows. All of the building-up for a small, seemingly-pointless little jam? Think again, Rash of Robberies is a total adventure of building-up and breaking-down, always staying unpredictable, always surprising the listener.
The album concludes with Fall of the American Empire, the tale of the American government throwing giant parties and living their lives carefree while their entire establishment falls around them. Hilarious lyrics make this a perfect album closer. After all is said and done, the band turns the song around into an all-out three-minute jam, which fuses massive amounts of instruments together in harmony, creating the perfect blend of music. Church bells, keyboards and pianos, trombones and trumpets, guitar, bass, and drums all mingle in the conclusion of the final track, and finally the music fades out. Somehow, State Radio has decided that this wasn’t enough. After about two minutes, we hear a slow acoustic guitar riff. The beautiful, heartfelt lyrics of Sybil II (Sybil is the name of frontman Chad Urmston’s girlfriend) are a lovely little addition to the already overpowering Year of the Crow. State Radio is an acquired taste of music, but for those who have accepted the unique style of these three men, this is a perfect album. For those who have never heard State Radio before or do not like the band, give Year of the Crow a chance. You will be surprised at the imposing number of genres you can find throughout one album. Large quantities of musical tastes have been poured into the melting pot which is Year of the Crow.
