Review Summary: Derivative/potent energy drink.
MSPAINT: a band name that conjures my childhood. The music? Not so much. There’s enough different influences in Post-American to bring to the forefront an eclectic array of sounds from various genres, yet the result is focused and modern. This synth rock/punk album is no couch potato. The guitars are buzzy enough to be busy bees, and drummed rhythms have insatiable energy and effortless ghost notes. Count clean, but not too clean production to the effort. You take it all in, and you get the picture — a healthy, fist raising band with a frontman that enjoys yelling. His brazen yell rapping brings to mind P.O.D., Otep (Otep also due to the anti-disestablishmentarinistic themes in Post-American), the glory days of Hollywood Undead, and of course Rage Against The Machine.
The closest sounding album I can think of (that comes to mind) is Project 86’s Rival Factions. Similarities include a powerfully loud guitar, goth influence, screams, and a lot of fun. Post-American is unique though, with equally blistering synths that bring to mind The Birthday Massacre. There’s some industrial and pop influence here for sure, though the intentionally repetitive yelled raps mixed with slapped drums keeps thinks firmly punky. When I say this album gets
crazy, trust me.
If I have one gripe, it’s that songs aren’t that drastically different from each other. They enjoy their preferred rhythms and synth types, staying within that build. That includes the vocalist, who picked a sound/range with his raps and ran with it. It’s punchy enough and certainly not monotone, but variety is the spice of life is it not? A little bit of singing, background vocals, sung choruses, or more included harsh vocals would not go to waste — nothing specific really, but there is room for expansion.
One last item to point out: what a fun album. The frontman’s yell-raps get a tad monotonous later in the album, but until then they’re furious fire. Likewise, the snare favouring drums and volcanic riffs create endlessly catchy, boisterous songs. As far as my favourite songs — I like all of the songs. However, there’s a little too much been-there-done-that to claim this album overly superior to others of its sort. I gotta hand it to them though, I was along for the ride.
