Review Summary: Dance Gavin Dance's most underrated album.
Acceptance Speech is the follow up to Downtown Battle Mountain II, the first and only album to not be produced by Kris Crummett, and the introduction to Tilian Pearson as clean vocalist for the band. Aside from Tilian, this is the one album guitarist John Benton appears on for the band, and the reentry of Tim Feerick as bassist replacing original bassist, Eric Lodge. This album is generally given a bad rep by the band's fandom for the lowly production and the initial introduction for Tilian's high singing voice. In my opinion, I still believe this album to be a stronger entry to its predecessor.
From my personal opinion, I believe this to be a very solid album. As big a fan as I am of this band, this is the only album I can listen to from front to back with only minor complaints. Acceptance Speech is also the initial album that introduced me to the band, holding some sentiment and nostalgia for me. With their original singer, Jonny Craig, the band had a more soulful sound. With their second singer, Kurt Travis, the band emphasized more funk elements. Now with Tilian, they go toward a more pop direction. This is not to discredit the band, as they needed to adapt to their lineup changes, and this change made for something fresh.
Jon Mess shines so much on this album as he shows significant improvement in his vocals, producing deeper screams and growls than past releases. "The Robot with Human Hair, Pt. 4," "Acceptance Speech," and "The Jiggler" are the highlights on the album in regards to that. Jon is Jon, so of course, lyrical quality remains a random, no pun intended, mess, but that is one of the many charms of the band. Though in later albums, Tilian will show more feeling and emotion, his singing is still decent. He even says that these weren't some of his best performances, but I'd disagree. "The Robot with Human Hair, Pt. 4" gave great example of his range and cohesiveness with the band. I would say he gives his best performance on "Strawberry Swisher, Pt. 3."
There are some definite risks on this album, especially when going with a new singer. From effects on vocals in "Death of the Robot with Human Hair" and "Demo Team" to risky lyrical content on "Honey Revenge," that sings about rape from the point of view of a stalker. Seeing the band take risks like this is good, showing that they're willing to go out of their comfort zone. But they are smart enough to limit their risk taking in order to not ruin the overall sound. The tracks "Doom & Gloom" and "Demo Team" are probably the weakest on the album. "Doom & Gloom" isn't bad, just generic and forgettable compared to some of the others. "Demo Team" has, as mentioned earlier, effects on both singers' vocals for parts of the song, and it isn't executed in the best fashion.
Will Swan and Matt Mingus continue to show off their skills with funky, progressive riffs, and percussion, but giving a flatter more direct sound than past releases. Josh doesn't really add much more, good or bad, to the music. Tim Feerick impresses me the most on the album with some very decent bass lines. They can be heard on tracks like "Acceptance Speech" and "Turn Off the Lights, I'm Watching Back to the Future, Pt. 2."
Acceptance Speech, in my opinion, only fails from a production standpoint. Not having Kris Crummett this time around definitely sets the album back for many, but isn't directly the band's fault. Musically, the band brings a newer sound while still managing to still be consistent with past works. It is nice to know that even with the large amount of lineup changes, the band manages to keep its identity. As the fifth album, Acceptance Speech continues the solidification that Dance Gavin Dance is a series of cogs of a monster machine releasing good quality music.
