Review Summary: The More Things Change, The More Things Stay the Same
For over twenty years, Stray From the Path has been releasing politically charged, hardcore adjacent bangers that have earned the ire of far-right leaning individuals. Fans of this band who are most likely fans of Rage Against the Machine and have a more left leaning worldview will have enjoyed an abundance of neck-snapping breakdowns, witty and memorable lyrical forays often in the form of repeated one-liners, and of course, the consistent criticism of the American police force. With this latest offering, “Clockworked”, Stray from the Path have ultimately decided that this would be their last project but instead of going out with a bang, they are going out with an absolute nuclear explosion, take no prisoners style.
The opening track and lead single ‘Kubrick Stare’ waste’s little time introducing their bouncy, groovy style of metalcore with thick, beefy low tuned riffs coupled with an absolutely diabolical bass tone. Vocalist Drew York highlights our society’s general disillusionment to bonkers world events that we see in day-to-day media and how we as humans ultimately coast and fallback on religious views rather than coming to terms of the savagery and insanity. “Woah, they shot a guy? Yeah, just walk it off/Another genocide? Man, just walk it off…You let the devil in/A savage off the leash/Faith’s just a parting gift/Discarded on the street.”
The intensity ramps up even further on ‘*** Them All to Hell’ which ends up being one of my favorite songs. Drummer, podcaster and overall musical beast, Craig Reynolds, opens the track with dummy fast blastbeats which are complimented by devilish guitar feedback. The repeated call out of “*** them all the Hell” with the breakdown to conclude the track is *chef’s kiss. ‘Shot Caller’ is another fiery tune criticizing the legal system which allows rich fraudsters and individuals who use loopholes for financial gain while stepping on the poor to get there. I love Stray’s willingness to just lay it all out, no holds-barred, just speak your mind, speak your truth and use their voices in dissent of political and financial corruption. I have a feeling they may have donated to the Luigi Mangione fund, and I can’t blame them. Our political climate and the way the right strut around claiming political victory with DT in office really highlights the immaturity, lack of intelligence and overall lack of empathy that our society has. All while CEO’s, billionaires and corrupt politicians are allowed to just dance around with no consequences for their actions which consistently undermine the middle working class in this country. Sorry, got off track, sort of.
The couple of vocal features on this record are excellent as well from Florent Salfati of LANDMVRKS recognition delivering some quick bars on the title track ‘Clockworked.’ We also get a sort of unexpected feature from Jeff Moreira of Poison the Well offering some crisp vocal treats during the second verse of “Bodies in the Dark” which is just a filthy, awesome song. It’s one of the more dynamic and unique tracks on the album which still offers massive grooves and breakdowns but plays with soft/loud dynamics similar to ‘Bread & Roses’ from their last record “Euthanasia” but less of a ballad if that makes sense.
The back half of the record is just as solid as the first half; more breakdowns, more riffs, more massive climax moments that get you moving and grooving. Most importantly, I wanted to highlight the closing track ‘A Life is Four Chapters’ which leaves us as the listener with less hope than we might have started with and I feel like that sums up the Stray from the Path experience in the best way possible. They’ve used their songs to highlight important topics and ultimately, over twenty years later, the same issues pervade and in fact, are even more egregious. So how do you maintain hope? “Give peace a chance? / It never stood a chance.” I feel like anything different would not have been indicative of what Stray stand for, so I appreciate their honesty and how this song sort of opens the door into their mindset on writing music and living life candidly.
Stray for the Path has been a band I’ve enjoyed for over ten years now. There’s something about the intensity, the simplicity of the riffs, the amazing drumming on the records featuring Craig, Drew’s schoolyard-bully type vocal delivery that I am just drawn and hooked on. Knowing that this is it leaves me very sad and disheartened as I see many of the bands that I truly love slowly starting to call it quits. I’ll be spinning this record for a long time as it’s chalk full of bangers upon bangers. To Drew, Anthony, Craig and Tom…I thank you for the years of awesome music and wish you all the best.
