Against Me! - White Crosses
Rating
RIYL
The Loved OnesThe Replacements
The Gaslight Anthem
Release Date
06/08/2010
Label
SireTracklist
1. "White Crosses"2. "I Was a Teenage Anarchist"
3. "Because of the Shame"
4. "Suffocation"
5. "We're Breaking Up"
6. "High Pressure Low"
7. "Ache With Me"
8. "Spanish Moss"
9. "Rapid Decompression"
10. "Bamboo Bones"
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Against Me! is arguably the most controversial band in rock music. After two or three (depending on how long you’ve had your punk membership card) albums which set the standard for all punk rock in the new millennium, the Gainesville band began a slow incline into the realm of mainstream rock. After the increasingly more miss-than-hit transition albums Searching For a Former Clarity and New Wave, the band has almost completely shed their punk tatters and put on the digs of a big, beefy rock and roll band, and the resulting album gives us a lot to sink our teeth into.
“Do you remember when you were young and you wanted to set the world on fire?” is Tom Gabel’s most pressing question on White Crosses . The band certainly remembers, repeatedly declaring, “I was a teenage anarchist,” on the song of the same title. But instead of holding the attitude of Frank Turner, who implores us to hold our youthful fire and “make our mistakes again” (from his song “Love, Ire and Song”), singer Tom Gabel unexpectedly declares, “The revolution was a lie!” While Gabel may have been singing about a police brutality episode he had as a youth, the practical result of this attitude is an album that is the next logical step on the path that Against Me! has been on for the past couple of years: mainstream rock and roll with punk influences.
But don’t read that like it is a totally bad thing. It took this reviewer a while to get over the move away from the sound of yore, but I eventually realized that this new Against Me! writes some good songs, and the gigantic, slick production value from producer extraordinaire Butch Vig mostly makes the album better. The opening title track (which is eerily similar to The Gaslight Anthem’s new track “American Slang”) begins with a huge Americana guitar riff over some red-blooded power chords and moves into a big chorus with a final line (“I want to smash them all!”) that begs to be screamed at the top of your lungs, but in an arena instead of a damp basement. The aforementioned “I Was a Teenage Anarchist” is made for radio, and I mean it in the best way. The structure is simple, the chorus is ridiculously catchy and the lyrics are something everyone can relate to. “Because of the Shame” is a big, wall-of-sound, mid-tempo rocker that rides the wave of Springsteen homage that bands like the The Loved Ones have taken hold of, and Against Me! gives the style a good turn with an appropriately epic chorus. “High Pressure Low” (which sounds like Modern English of “Melt With You” fame) and “Rapid Decompression” (which is simple, fast and loud) successfully pay their respect to Against Me!’s roots with their nods to 80’s new wave and primal spirit of ’77 punk. The closer “Bamboo Bones” is the best song on the album, with its twisty, angular guitar riffs and old-school Against Me! intensity.
Unfortunately, like New Wave, Against Me!’s attempts to branch out sometimes come out as sub-par songs. One of the main problems is that there is often just too much going on, which is surprising for a band that used to live off minimalism and lo-fi. “Suffocation” is a prime sufferer of this problem. Against Me! doesn’t need four or five guitars, each with different effects, to make their point. “We’re Breaking Up” has three main parts, none of which go together, and the move from the verse to the chorus is jarring and lazy. The acoustic ballad “Ache With Me” is pretty, but boring. In general, the edge in everything from the guitars to the drums to the vocals, is gone, and while this works well on some songs, it sometimes gives the general feeling that the band is just phoning it in, and these moments often lack intensity. The lyrics are now almost all about personal and romantic issues instead of political issues, giving this album less immediacy. The departure of longtime drummer Warren Oakes and acquiring of former Hot Water Music drummer George Rebelo made some longtime fans salivate at the possibilities, but the drumming feels uninspired and mostly just plays it safe. Despite these complaints, this is an album that does mainstream-ish rock very well and shows Against Me! to be a band who can safely grow and transcend genres.
For those who have followed Against Me! for a long time, White Crosses at first feels like a giant slap in the face. Where is the fire and the passion? Where are the off-key, grating vocals? Where are the ham-fisted leftist lyrics? Where are the endearingly sloppy drums? What are all these new effects and *gasp* melodic guitar leads? Put plain and simple, they’re gone, and there is no going back. Against Me! has moved on and grown up. They certainly remember when they were young and wanted to set the world on fire, but they’ve learned that not everything they wanted to turn to ash is evil. The guitars will continue to get bigger, the edges will continue to polish off, the songwriting will become more epic, and the punks will be up in arms at the death of their savior. But what White Crosses says in a slick, smart mainstream rock veneer is that Against Me! is dead. Long live Against Me!
--Stephen Harris
Comments
I agree heartly, but I completely disagree. See, this band is not made for arenas, not this album and not the past ones.Green Day is, Against Me! is not.Sure, this is more mainstream, more people who never knew who these guys were will soon take notice, but I'm pretty sure they won't like Axl Rose's Against Me! I can't imagine those songs being played in front of 30,000 people. To me, this is still punk, and Teenage Anarchist is as punk as they want to be, a big fuck you to all the narrow minded "individuals" that as a result, despise the band so much now.
(Glad I'm not the only one thinking they sound like The Gaslight Anthem a little bit, The Boss reallyteached them well.)
Minnesota
I don't think I've even been remotely interested in anything Against Me! has done in well over 5 years.
Find me EVERYWHERE:
