Review Summary: Protest the Hero on crack.
I've been meaning to do a review of this album for quite a bit, but Starcraft II came out. Now I'm sitting here, crack-addled and shaking like a chihuahua, the current victory-high fading. But
Journal is an excellent unsigned act, deserving of praise (from people more well-known than myself), and I'm going to kick this puppy out if I have to inject adrenaline to restart my heart from Battle.net withdrawals.
The first thing (and one of the most pleasing aspects of the band) is their self-aware nature. While their technical ability has obviously been honed through countless hours of humid, sweaty practice sessions surrounded with gym sock manfunk, and shows a dedication to their craft that a lot of newer bands can't even touch... well, they just don't take themselves that seriously. They aren't deadly serious, but don't fall so far into the Adult Swim-esque self-parody that some bands (
iwrestledabearonce) fall into that seems forced and out of place. The polar opposite to pretentious-heavy
Coheed and Cambria in this instance, they are a mathcore band (an inherently ridiculous genre) with a concept album (an overwrought, everyones-doing-it exercise)... about a video game they just made up. Even their album is just an anagram for the band name. It's meant to be fun, and it is. It's also one of, if not the best mathcore album since the venerable
Calculating Infinity, and will probably be seeping its way on to several Top 10 lists.
High flying, spiraling scale runs and off-timing riffage are the meat of this disc, displaying a love of the heavy-heavy-low-low that has sharper teeth and more of a grip than ninety percent of the scene they find themselves in.
Journal also has an incredible knack for melodic songwriting and these moments range from the subtle and subdued to the hamfisted and melodramatic. Their transitions are masterful, with little jarring and a gentle touch that gives the song a liquidity that
Between the Buried and Me could learn quite a bit from. When the band hits its spazzy noisecore moments, they are ruthless and brutal.
The real star here is songwriting. It's rock-solid from start to finish, keeping things interesting, and only the 30 minute closer with its spoken word ending really detract from the total package, despite its beautiful acoustic work underneath that seesaws with some seriously destructive noise. The resulting feel of the album is
Protest the Hero meets
Ion Dissonance, with tons of catchy bits, meticulous fretwork, nitty-gritty grind, and a sense of awe that this kind of quality work comes from such a young, unsigned band.
Unlorja is a fine specimen in the mathcore genre that has entered a severe case of stagnation, but even more than that, it's a great album by all accounts, worthy of your attention and your money. Go get this. And now, I've got to try go to get into the Gold League...
