MUTEMATH - Armistice
Rating
RIYL
U2Radiohead
Muse
Release Date
08/18/2009
Label
Warner Bros.Tracklist
1. The Nerve2. Backfire
3. Clipping
4. Spotlight
5. No Response
6. Pins And Needles
7. Goodbye
8. Odds
9. Electrify
10. Armistice
11. Lost Year
12. Burden
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MUTEMATH derives the title of their second full-length from the almost self-immolating attempt to write a follow-up to their debut. According to the album bio, "The classic inability to function as a cooperative band during the writing process threatened breakup, but we’re able to hear what we hear from them today only because the quartet managed to put aside their altercations, shelve the songs they had been working on and proceed with newfound inspiration in harmony." Armistice, then, is appropriate here.
Armistice, then, is also a relief. What MUTEMATH instilled in listeners with their Self Titled album in 2006 was a sense of confidence musical creativity was alive and well. Their seducing mixture of Kid A-type electronics and only the five-star aspects of Brit rock really throttled and ruptured people’s minds, especially when combined with their live show – and alternative wasn’t even that bad yet 3 years ago. So we need Mute Math even more now, when the excrement piles of music (we’re looking at you Lady Gaga and Cobra Starship) are taking the easy road to prosperity and being rewarded with mass attention because of it.
Nevertheless, the blue-collar sweat of a band working hard to achieve quality never fails to catch the nostrils of those who still care about legitimate music. This Dennis Herring-outfitted album seeps excellence in an undefeated, “We’re back!” sort of way and deftly dodges the proverbial sophomore slump. From the very opening, the unconventional half-talked, downward-spiraling vocals of the “The Nerve” set the pace for a kind of quasi-dance album that has the potential to revolutionize the genre as we know it. And by the time the nine minute majesty of “Burden” finishes its ultra-rhythmic drum solos, be prepared to discard just about every other pop-rock album that touches the market this year – Armistice makes them irrelevant.
Yet while we as listeners are rejoicing, MUTEMATH is writing with a frown. Front man Paul Meany pens darkly about frustrations and arguments for the majority of the tracks, reflecting most obviously on the writing process and perhaps also personal struggles. “Clipping” has Meany wailing, “Anymore, I don’t know who to fight anymore / I don’t know what is right anymore,” over a melody that plays with a what-if-Linkin Park-was-intelligent mindset. The song receives an interesting boost from deep and grinding electronics, mystical piano lines and gorgeous cascading strings, but all this only serves to emphasize the confusing murkiness it portrays. The downcast theme is echoed in the melancholy “Pins and Needles” -- “Obligations to my heart are gone / Superficial lines explain it all… / And I’m growing fond of broken people / As I see that I am one of them,” reflects Meany anything but cheerfully. And on “Backfire” MUTEMATH’s best laid plans go to waste amidst sheer digital abandon.
Other tracks aren’t quite so straightforward. “Goodbye” and “Armistice” are both stocked with dance-inducing ammunition but are lyrically charged with love angst and sarcastic anger: “You don’t have to say it, I know / It’s all my fault.” Still, the album finds room for some pure party showstoppers in “Electrify” and “Spotlight,” the former of which could be the freak-out-and-move anthem of the year.
Armistice is slightly less experimental than Self Titled; the track-listing is smaller and not an instrumental track is to be found, but this only means that MUTEMATH is growing up. Here they’ve traded the single-word space-outs (ie. “Obsolete”) for a slimmer and tighter album of focused pop; but really, beyond all the nitty gritty of analytical dissection lies what is finally a masterful album to have moral fun to. For that, we and all the misguided artists in the industry are indebted to Mute Math.
--Matthew Tsai
Comments
Fishers, Indiana
I think this album is pretty bland and boring myself. If by "growing up," you mean that they've made an album of derivative U2 and Coldplay b-sides, then you're absolutely correct. :-P
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Senegal Africa
I thought this album was ok I just wished they had more songs like "burden" on this album. I think it was their experimental element on there self titled album that got me into them. I think burden is the most experimental song they have wrote but the rest of the album is reletively straightforward. I have no problem with straightforward if it is doneright i just expected a little more from this album.
Listening to:
fuckin african mosques (Tang na bu baax)
San Jose, CA
They definitely draw from those artists but I feel that they really have a sense of their own sound and that really shaped up this album. Personally I think they've hit a level Coldplay will never achieve haha.
last.fm/user/thetsaiguy
Kansas
haven't listened to it yet but i'm sure I won't be disappointed
http://rateyourmusic.com/~benny06
It's a good album, for sure, but it is definitely missing something that only "the Burden" has. I was actually in attendance at one of the listening parties and the label rep told us that Darren actually wrote more of the long intros, musical interludes, etc that were present on the last album (and in Burden), but the producer nixed it and told them to clean it up and cut "the fat". Apparently "The Burden" was the one track that the producer let him and the others go wild on and it was kind of their "f u" track to the trimmed down mentality. They, as we were told, came to an agreement that for the album such parts would mostly be cut, but would be brought back when played in a live setting. So hopefully the songs take on a whole new life at the concert. I really can appreciate them trying new sounds on this one, new techniques and whatnot, but do hope that everyone's stressing of how great Burden is in comparison means they'll bring back their instrumental playfullness next album. I don't think every song has to be straight and to the point to be successful at all. Ps - good review on this one... I enjoyed your spin on it.
"These are our lives, but did they ever even matter - are we worth remembering?"
- "Tip The Scales"
Rise Against
San Jose, CA
Cool, thanks for the info. I had no idea that the songs were longer, but seeing how it's already a fantastic album as it is, I have to imagine things will be absolutely amazing live.
last.fm/user/thetsaiguy
Minnesota
This is way more boring than their last release. Definitely just ok.
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Infinitely Inwards
Really great album, but I kind of agree with Rick about being more boring than their last album. I will listen to it more to make myself love it.
Ever Forthright - Ever Forthright
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Aborted - Global Flatline
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Crippled Black Phoenix - (Mankind)The Crafty Ape
Loving it... I think that is better than their self titled,I hear a clear influence of Minus the bear in the melodies and the construction of the songs...a little bit of phoenix here and there as well. Anyway...I think that's a great album. Not boring at all
New Jersey
I still hate Spotlight, but the rest of it is pretty damn good.
when i see it in your eyes
i just want to go blind
Oklahoma
I found all the talk about this album being less experimental than the S/T kind of funny, considering the opening line of the AllMusic review is, "Mutemath indulge their experimental side with Armistice..." Either way, I can't wait to hear it tomorrow.
Leeds, England
I'm on the fence with this one... I mean, it's not bad, but I kinda miss the experimental style and all the dredgery they had ;)
Baltimore, MD
i definitely heard things that reminded me of Phoenix's latest release...the album is certainly growing on me more and more with each listen, though I do miss the lack of at least one instrumental/experimental track... However, when it all comes down to it, mute math's live performance is where it's at
concerning what doubledriven is talking about that they were forced to cut the experimental tracks and parts by their producer and label, i thought they created their own label to eliminate just that, and to not be considered a "christian" band
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San Jose, CA
A lot of reviews out there are calling this one more experimental for some reason. Maybe the background instrumentation gets more complex at times, but I think it's easy to hear that this is far more straightforward pop-rock.
last.fm/user/thetsaiguy
Fort Bragg, CA
Great review!
It's good but I have the same problem with it I do with every MuteMath release: I have to skip through a few tracks. It's more refined, true, but some tracks really bore me.
Definitely don't see it making other pop-rock albums irrelevant, in my opinion. There's been some pretty fantastic releases this year.
San Borja, Lima, Perú
Liked the ep and the self titled didn't got many plays from me. Maybe its i'm getting older, but this one catchs my attention far more than their last. The music is so intrincate and complex, but yet they manage to make it sound so simple, really impressive.
San Jose, CA
Thanks, and yeah there are probably 1 or 2 songs I skip on this one too. I always skip "Lost Year" for sure.
last.fm/user/thetsaiguy
You gave a 4.5 to an album that has songs you skip?
Beer Blog
San Jose, CA
1 song out of 12 isn't a big deal. 4.5 doesn't mean absolutely perfect, but it does mean it's close.
last.fm/user/thetsaiguy
I suppose not. But I find that albums with even one or two songs I dislike often fall out of my regular rotation quickly, which means I'd probably be stretching to even give them a 4. Guess I'm just a complete-package kinda guy (i.e., too picky).
edit: Or perhaps not picky enough? I usually have to REALLY dislike a song to skip it if I love the rest of the album.
Beer Blog
Oklahoma
This band has always been a bit hit or miss for me when they slow things down. It's during those moments that I most often find them boring, and this record is no different. They'll always be best going full speed, imo.
Also, does anyone else immediately think of "Map of The Problematique" when they hear "Clipping?"
San Jose, CA
I actually hear a lot of Linkin Park in "Clipping" haha. I think I called it a "sophisticated Linkin Park" or something along those lines in the review. The lyrics are confused, angsty, and there's that LP feel to the chorus. It's not bad, but I'd probably consider it one of the relatively weaker tracks.
last.fm/user/thetsaiguy