Review Summary: Dressed and ready for the party to begin
Northstar was/is my favorite pop-punk band. If you haven’t heard Northstar imagine a combination of the raw energy of "Tell All Your Friends" combined with the experimentation of "Deja Entendu" combined with the best lyricism from "Mean Everything to Nothing". Northstar released two albums both of which were at least superb ("Pollyanna" being a masterpiece and with any sort of production at all "Is This Thing Loaded?" is the best pop-punk album ever). In 2005, they decided to break up and I was depressed to the point of considering Hawthorne Heights. Then out of nowhere two members of Northstar decided to form a band called Cassino. Cassino first album "Sounds of Salvation" combined pop-punk with folk in an album that was excellent; but seems to be too scattered and undeceive to be considered anything more than that. On "Kingprince", Cassino abandoned all pop-punk influences and any resemblance of catchiness. Hell, there isn’t even a song on here that features a heavy guitar riff. How can this album possibly be a classic album?
Northstar made you feel like you were living in an epic pop-punk soap opera with every excellent song on each of there two albums. On “Kingprince”, Cassino make you feel as if you are living in the back woods of a country town, and just use music as a second job to make ends meet. In doing this Cassino do not conform to stereotypes about folk music, which is the reason the genre rarely produces a classic album. A big reason for this is how seamlessly the album flows together. How “Djom”, the beautiful almost instrumental opening song of the album flows into “Kingprince” an upbeat guitar driven song is just memorizing. And all the songs on the album fit together as well as these two songs do, and this is saying something for a band really making there opening folk album.
Another thing that contributes to the feeling the album gives you is the quality of the instrumentation. Even though the instrumentation is typical of folk music (heavy on the acoustic guitar, harmonica, and other random instruments) they seem to fit Nick’s vocals and lyrics almost perfectly. What is even more amazing is that there are three remade songs on here that are improved drastically. The “Gin War” seemed like a out of place mess of a rock song on the previous album, now it is a slowed down romantic country song that STILL fits in swiftly with the album and has lyrics and vocals that STILL match its new style. “The Ice Factory” was an over produced (a rarity for Cassino or Northstar) song on SOS but on “Kingprince”, the beat is picked up by a lot this making the lyrics extremely clear and more effective. “Boomerang”, was also a flawed combination of the bands pop-punk influences and the new Nashville folk influences of the band. On SOS it was like the song wanted to be a fast paced Ryan Adams country song but it also wanted to be a kick you in the balls Clash type of punk song. On “Kingprince” it is just pure sex. One of the best songs of the album “Boomerang” change in instrumentation is the key to making it the song it is. Neither a lame overproduced fast country song nor a random “F-U” punk song, “Boomerang” is perfect as Nick calmly sings (almost talks) lyrics to a background of rapidly changing acoustic chords and minimal drumming. The instrumentation on the “new” songs is about as good as it gets. “Cannonball”, has to be one of the best acoustic songs ever and this is primarily because of the simple shifts in instrumentation that seem to correspond with every vocal Nick is singing. “The River”, creates the feel of an epic conclusion to the album even though it is nothing more than a simple acoustic song, “Maddie Bloom” is made up of so many different parts it might as well be the folks “Paranoid Android” but really nothing that new is done here, “Ghost” is probably the only song that is somewhat mainstream on “Kingprince” but the instrumentation makes it at least somewhat original. The simple yet brilliant instrumentation on “Kingprince” is one of the many things that contributes greatly to the feel the album is trying to create and to what makes the album a classic.
The lyrics on this album prove that Nick Torres is one of the best songwriters out there and also greatly contribute to the feel of the album. There is at least one line or verse a song that makes you rewind and say “WOW THAT WAS REALLY CLEVER” (you probably won’t do this but I am nerd so I do). On the opener “Djom”, Nick sings:"we're filling up with embers and the water tastes like timber, but I try not to think about it now and then” brilliant lyrics in there own right but combined with the soft acoustic guitar and the 1 minute 50 second harmonica intro (?) the lyrics are great. Ameila is a fast song that is as close as this album comes to chaos and Nick sings lyrics that seem to fit the songs instrumentation: “Maybe I'm tumbling, maybe I’m role with energy, that I don’t have but need to eat, we don’t swim we die for what we need”. There are MANY more examples of lyrics that not only contribute to the albums “this is my second job and I live in Nashville” feel but also fit the instrumentation of the album and the song perfectly.
What would a classic album be without at least 90% of its songs being solid? Well even more than 90% of the songs on “Kingprince” are solid, 100% of the songs on Kingprince are solid. There is not a bad song on here and that is saying a lot for a band just diving into the genre of folk. There are a few tracks that are masterpieces though: “Maddie Bloom” really sticks out to me it is a six minute nineteen second folk ballad that is not over cliché and is made up of many parts. Read what I just said again, a six minute nineteen second folk ballad that is not over cliché and is made up of many parts. That in itself makes the song in my opinion an instant classic but the vocals match the acoustic feel as good as any song I have listened to in a hot minute. Try not to spew yourself when Nick sings “I hope when I leave she leaves them buried here, and they don’t grow into the air” to a almost pause in instrumentation and singing with as much raw emotion as he has sang with since Northstars “Two Zero Two”. I don’t even know how to explain how good “Cannonball”. It is an upbeat acoustic song with lyrics about partying and finding out who you really are as a person (how many acts today can pull this off?) and has simple changes in instrumentation throughout that make the song a classic. Hell, it may be one of my favorite songs ever. “The River”, is guaranteed to be a good song just based off of its title alone (have you ever listened to a bad song called “The River”?). The song is one of the best closing songs I have heard in a while and it is still very simple and is still folk. One of the coolest things about “Kingprince” though is it really only has one song with that attemps to have a chorus or a hook (the worst song of the album “Ghost”) and the rest of the album you remember for weird things like instrumentation, flow, and lyrics.
To all the people that no one could ever make a classic folk album without any major hooks or production value, Cassino just went up to you and said “BOOM ROASTED” and “YES WE CAN”. You probably won’t find an album with as good of flow, instrumentation, lyrics, and songs like “Kingprince”. And this is coming from a band that had two members that just made a pop-punk masterpiece with Northstar. That’s what is really striking about the members of Cassino and Northstar they can just seamlessly make a classic album in any genre they want too. I can’t wait to write the review for “Hip-Hop Salvation” in 2012.
