I don't know if any of you is familiar with medieval arabic history, but I'd like to talk for a second about the Mamluks. The Mamluks were technichally slaves of the caliphs and sultans, but had a higher social status than normal people. During the Crusades, specially in the Salah ad-Din era, they were the most feared soldiers of the muslims. They were known for their supreme control over their horses, their ability to endure long rides and stil be able to fight, and their recklessness in battle. During sieges, they would usually scream to terrify the enemy and perform insane races with the heads of dead soldiers spiked in spears.
The Mamluks were the best real life comparison I've found to describe Yank Crime's sound: an insane group of technically proficient bastards, performing stunning tricks at high levels of intensity. With good ol' screaming, too. You see, I'm not a guy who listens to lots of post hardcore, but even I know that today's brand is not much different than that Blink 182 and Green Day created within punk a few years ago. So, when I did some research about the origins of the style and I found Fugazi, Nation of Ulysses and many other bands, I couldn't understand how or when the change happened. I'm not gonna talk about that now, but I WILL note that this is how I found Drive Like Jehu. So, after seeing all the praise it received from the few people that had actually
listened to the album, I decided to check Yank Crime out.
Holly sh1t.
Drawing analogies to things breaking, inanimate objets being brutally assaulted and people's bodies being hurt is inevitable. The first 30 seconds of
Here come the Rome Plows are the musical equivalent to being hit repeatedly in the face and the knees with iron clubs. On the first listen you won't have any option other than opening widely your eyes and silently whisper "what am I listening to......?" as genius melodies seamlessly pass through the general mayhem and Rick Froberg's throat vomits its bile. So unmerciful is the sonic assault; so badass is the underlining bass line; such machine-like precission is displayed by Mark Trombino. It seems like the Jehus took very seriously the teachings of interweaving-guitars masters Sonic Youth and Mission Of Burma, for nearly never both guitars play the same thing. The result are almost always dissonant riffs and unexpected twists on melody and harmony that fuel adrenaline ridden numbers like
Golden Brown and
Human Interest. Solos are also to be found, but most of the time honor will be made to the pioneers and solos will be replaced by noise and feedback.
The talent shown by this guys is undeniable. Every track is demanding both physically and in terms of precision and timing; most of them are also very fast. The twists and time changes that plague the album are hints at progressiveness (with 4 of the original 9 songs lasting well over 7 minutes), but the musicians are
so good that it never feels pretentious; instead, the different sections of the epics
Do You Compute? and
Sinews assemble naturally. They even experiment with some post rock in
New Intro.
Froberg's performance is another high point of the album; it's a constant competition between the voice and the guitars over control, and more often than not, the voice will struggle to survive the avalanche of noise and finally break, while the remarkable rythm section of Kennedy and Trombino provides the stage for the war (the bonus track
Bullet Train to Vegas is a perfect example). His screams are barely bearable bursts of dread and anger, which, added to the constant feeling of tension this album is soaked in, makes the whole listening experience a very exhausting one. Thankfully, the seldom quiet parts are conveniently placed before the most intense sections with the gang punishing the instruments and Froberg punishing himself.
Which takes us to the lyrics
Hmmmmm lets put it this way: Froberg has no problem
-about saying a nihilistic Fu6k You:
"kill off the tourist and we'll all sleep sound
cash-in their fillings & blow it in town
we'll blow it on rifles, we'll blow it on drinks,
head for the corner, head for the sink"
-about sarcasticaly attacking capitalism and The System/straightforwardly attacking sluts:
"And now my knees are spotless and my legs are crossed.
And I needn't spread them.
Cause i can afford:
piety, chastity, charity, your company."
-ain't talkin' 'bout love
you're putty now in my hands.
you're bloody now in my hands.
yeah keep the herd in check or be absorbed.
thats all.
So. There you go. I'd like to see what a fan of Alesana and Thursday would think about it.
Anyway, like the other reviewer said, it's pretty clear were ATD-I got their ideas when recording Relationship of Command. If you are one of the 364 people who thought that was a classic, or just enjoy emotionally intense, technical music, there's no reason why you wouldn't give this album the same score.
Standout tracks:
Here come the Rome Plows
Luau
Human Interest
Sinews
