BlacklistedSince I first heard Blacklisted's demo a couple years back I have been hooked on these guys. They aren't the most groundbreaking band but it's just something about them. I guess what separates Blacklisted from so many other bands is their singer George, who has one of the more unique voices in the genre. You hear so many vocalists today that sound alike but George sticks out like a sore thumb, and I say that with the utmost respect.
While Blacklisted's sound hasn't completely changed since the release of their demo, it has definitely taken on some new attributes. I suppose you could say that when Shawn Foley joined the band things started to move into a new direction. However, what I like about their transition from the demo days till now is the fact that they have slowly morphed into what they are today, they did not completely abandon their sound, they just incorporated some new things while keeping the foundation intact, and that is a skill in itself.
So what is so different on this 11 song full length (though, I may be a bit hesitant to call it such)? Not so much if you have listened to every subsequent release since the release of their demo. Here, they have tastefully bridged the gap from their last EP "Peace On Earth, War On Stage" to their current sound. George's voice is the same for the most part, but he does however start to use more of the talk/singing style, even more than he did on the EP. But he does it in the right spots and more often than not it sounds good so I'm not complaining. The guitar writing has gotten just a bit more thrashy and I don't know if that's due to the drumming style but either way it's done well (even if you didn't read Blacklisted's blog you should be able to tell the love that their drummer Shawn has for Down). We started to see the band get more comfortable with experimenting with pure instrumentation and structured feedback on "The Beat Goes On..." and "Peace On Earth, War On Stage" but this release shows them hitting their stride.
As I hinted at in the beginning of the last paragraph, this CD consists of 11 songs but it doesn't break the 20 minute mark so I have a hard time calling this a full length. I love what they have done here, for the most part anyway. With the exception of "Circuit Breaker" which was placed in the middle of the CD, and the album closer "Wish", all of the songs are less than 2 minutes or barely over. I welcome the use of ambient noise and experimentation but in the case of "Circuit Breaker" it almost comes off as filler, which is magnified for me because the CD is already short as it is, if you shaved one minute off "Circuit Breaker" you might as well call this an EP. This is not meant to diminish the efforts of the band because I will take quality over quantity any day but I just wouldn't call this a full length. Another reason why I wouldn't call this a full length is because "Canonized" and "Memory Layne" were both taken from the previous EP, bringing down the time of new material to about 16 minutes.
Kurt over at God City Studios did yet another fantastic job. I like the tone of the guitars and how they gave just enough space for the bass in the mix. The drum tone sounds extremely warm and meshes extremely well with the bass, which helps to bridge the gap between the guitars and the rhythm section. And Kurt also do a fantastic job on the placement of the vocals.
When I first got this CD I wasn't too into the layout of the record. I was disappointed to see that the image of the harbor that is being passed off as the front cover is most likely a cardboard slip cover (I say most likely because I didn't get the whole package, just the booklet and CD). The front cover is actually a girl smoking a cigarette as she listens to her headphones. I thought it seemed a bit emo but after reading the lyrics and giving it some more thought I changed my mind. One of things that helped sway my opinion was the hefty booklet that uses two pages for each song, and uses a picture that corresponds with each song. Still not terribly into the layout but I like it more than I initially did.
Rating: 4/5
Songs Worthy of Replay: "Matrimony" and "I Am Weighing Me Down"
Synopsis: Overall, the CD is really fucking good, it's just a shame that they opted to use two of their older songs instead of coming up with two new ones. If they would've added the two old ones AND two new ones, shit would've been awesome. What really made up for it is the quality of the music as well as the lyrics. I didn't bother to touch on the lyrics in the body of the review because you should already know that they are awesome. I honestly wish they would've taken a little more time with this but hey it's still better than most hardcore albums that have come out this year.
For some nice nuggets of knowledge regarding the band and the process of writing
and recording, check out their blod:
I'm With Blacklisted Blog
IF YOU LIKE IT, BUY IT!