A Wilhelm Scream - Career Suicide
Rating
RIYL
Rise AgainstStrung Out
Lagwagon
Strike Anywhere
Release Date
10/09/2007
Label
NitroTracklist
1. I Wipe My Ass with Showbiz2. 5 to 9
3. The Horse
4. Die While We’re Young
5. Jaws 3, People 0
6. Career Suicide
7. These Dead Streets
8. Get Mad, You Song of a Bitch
9. Our Ghosts
10. Cold Slither II
11. Pardon Me, Thanks a Lot
12. Check Request Denied
13. We Built This City! (On Debts and Booze)
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Fans of A Wilhelm Scream could be delineated into two camps: (1) fans of the band, and (2) fans of the genre, and by extension the band. Although I place myself in the former, this statement implies no elitism on my part; rather, it evinces instead that A Wilhelm Scream crafts punk for people otherwise bored with the genre. Indeed, while Scream retains many of the genre’s tropes — breakneck tempos, socially aware if not defiant lyrics, gruffly-rendered vocals, etc. — the band’s players could just as easily have formed a prog outfit. It’s this vast musical ability that makes band details, such as lead vocalist Nuno Pereira sporting a Shawn Kemp jersey, seem endearing rather than corny; the employment of excessive profanity sound organic rather than lyrically uncreative; and the band’s general aesthetic feel intelligent rather than purely testosterone-driven.
Because of Scream’s commitment to and excellence in technical achievement, however, not to mention their gift to pen infectious songs, with each album’s success they redefine the standard against which their subsequent efforts will be judged. Initially I didn’t think that Career Suicide matched the originality of Mute Print or the near perfect songwriting of Ruiner (oddly enough, this website awarded the latter only 3.5 stars); but several factors have combined to say otherwise: (1) Bill Stevenson’s production on this album is one of the best jobs I’ve heard period, much less for punk rock; say what you will about punk necessitating raw production, but I’d rather hear every instrument any day; I agree with a friend of mine when he exclaims, “finally a mix that gets the bass right!” (2) the addition of veritable virtuoso Brian J. Robinson on bass, to whom I’ll return shortly; and (3) the realization that this album, when considered with the rest of the band’s catalogue, makes Scream’s closest contemporary, Strung Out, look amateurish in comparison.
In the spirit of White Goodman’s “losing with these losers in Las Vegas, LaFleur,” let’s not make this more complicated than it is: I’ll save you your concentration for comprehending Career Suicide’s compositions. Simply put, and anomalous as it may be for punk, this is an album which demands labels like “gorgeous” or “full of finesse.” In other words, while the boys clearly exhibit their trademark grit and fury both in dedication and performance, how convinced can the listener be when they exude such effortlessness. Each song on Career Suicidedeserves mention, but because track-by-track reviews bore reviewers and readers alike, I’ll break my analysis of the album’s songs into three sections.
As stated earlier, Scream has perfected their blazing skate punk style, so for their junior post-Smackin’ Isaiah release concocting tracks that did this and more was a given for both the group and its fans. Unsurprisingly, when the band goes against the punk norm they are the most interesting; when they use the speed and bile inherent to punk as a springboard into more progressive settings.
Album standout and early fan-favorite “The Horse” arguably bests all Scream material to date. When I hear the opening helixes of guitar and ridiculous bass finger-tapping, I am reminded of the first time I heard Scream, and wondered exactly why and how this punk band was playing metal. “The Horse” is insanely catchy and the deadpan background “hello” at 0:39 following Pereira’s “I am berating onlookers now, silently greeting pleasant eyes” makes me laugh every time, but the second longest song the band has yet written becomes one of the most surprising and engrossing around 2:05 when the band seems to leave the seedy punk dive, and wander into a Cancer Conspiracy record, perhaps a bit of a stretch, but Robinson does count Rush’s Moving Pictures among his five most influential records, so why couldn’t he enjoy neo-prog? This gives the wound inflicted by their stab stab stab some ambience in which to fester. It’s the subtleties such as the CC-esque flourish of guitar around 3:05 that make this song truly special to me.
Also of note: the brief scatological motif the band develops with lines like “Man, I hope he’ll piss/shit himself” in “Jaws 3, People 0” and “I took a piss in every ocean, so fuck the world!” in “Get Mad, You Son of a Bitch,” proving that it’s how Pereira delivers these sentiments that dictates their effect; in this case making an instant upstart out this jaded punk rocker. Of course, how creative must such topics be with bass runs like the one in “Jaws” at 1:23 and “Get Mad’s” sheer musical synergy, courtesy of über-gifted duo lead-guitarist Trevor Reilly and drummer Nicholas Pasquale Angelini, never faltering even as it expounds upon the atmosphere emphasized in “The Horse.”
After the aforesaid brilliance of extended pieces like “The Horse” (4:53) and “Get Mad” (3:55), “We Built This City! (On Debts and Booze)” clocks in at a mammoth-by-Scream-standards 5:37. The obvious concerns/questions: Is the time necessary? Is this a long track by default because of its place on the album? As even a mere objective listener of the band can discern, Scream does not waste time, notes, words, or energy. But “We Built This City!” is worth noting, and successful, because it allows itself to relax if only a bit; to still destroy a note, but to not yield wholly to the impulse to shred. Outside of the unparalleled crunch of Botch’s Brian Cook, how more pimped-out can the bass sound than in the section beginning at 2:05, not necessarily for its own sake but because of what it portends: Pereira not sounding cheesy at all when he suddenly screams “Wake Up!” and Reilly’s guitar spasms shocking you… but not because you didn’t think he could create such a sublime illusion of flail. This song is the band’s magnum opus, combining everything from the harmonic acrobatics of “William Blake Overdrive” to the straightforward “The Soft Sell.”
If I had any criticism about the album, it’s actually about the marketing thereof — it would be that “5 to 9” seems like a poor choice for a single/video. While rhythmically interesting, there are other songs that also bring more overt melody. Pop-punk devotees need not overlook this band because of Pereira’s hoarse voice, for on Career Suicide especially he demonstrates his vocal talents.
The inherent irony to my complaints about the homogeneity of punk is that by saying how much I enjoy this New Bedford, Massachusetts quintet, a band which on paper plays the same genre of music as the instrumentally sub-par Sex Pistols, I consequently evidence the diversity of punk rock. I’ll be content, though, to listen to band like A Wilhelm Scream because they give me sweat and passion but serve it on a bed of polyrhythms. In summation, unlike NOFX’s I Heard They Suck Live, A Wilhelm Scream meant nothing tongue-in-cheek by Career Suicide; instead, they meant that by not just conjuring but realizing an album this simultaneously catchy and mathematical, they were setting a “career suicide” of a new benchmark.
Two comments about the score:
First, I have heard several complain that Career Suicide doesn’t match the mark set by Mute Print and Ruiner; that much of it sounds similar. I urge these listeners to return to the album and notice the little touches, many of which I’ve specified herein.
Second, if Career Suicide were lacking any necessary push for a five-star album, A Wilhelm Scream’s overall innovation in the punk scene helped them achieve it. I feel that even fans of the band don’t always fathom what Scream has created.
--Stephen Chamberlain
Comments
Green Brook, NJ
Atascadero, CA
Decoymusic.com (CEO/Founder)
Blue Reef Design Studios (Web Development)
http://aarontroy.tumblr.com
VT
My Top Songs of '09
The Appleseed Cast//as the little things go
Caspian//sycamore
Sunwrae//Chinook Winds
Dredg//down to the seller
If These Trees Could Talk//the sun is in the north
From Monument to Masses//an ounce of prevention
Straylight Run//i'm through with the past
LpShinobi's Post-Rock and Shoegazing Recommendation, via YouTube
Lpshinobi's Post-Rock Band, New Song Posted
Minnesota
Find me EVERYWHERE:
Green Brook, NJ
the new strung out was probably the worst punk album this year. not that anything good came out -besides- this album.
Haleiwa, HI / Carlsbad, CA
It's blowin' cool outside today...
Atascadero, CA
Decoymusic.com (CEO/Founder)
Blue Reef Design Studios (Web Development)
http://aarontroy.tumblr.com
New Jersey
when i see it in your eyes
i just want to go blind
Thanks for your kind words! Glad you're enjoying the album!
It's blowin' cool outside today...
Touche.
It's blowin' cool outside today...
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