Crime In StereoI've never been into the whole pop-hardcore thing, nor have I ever understood it. The music is stupid and simplistic. To me if you're going to be simplistic be fast, be hard, and be heavy. I don't want to hear political agendas or abstract wanna-be hardcore lyrics being sung over some pussy ass chords. If you have any previous knowledge of CIS, then you know they played a pop-hardcore brand for their previous two full lengths and whatever other EP's they released. And yeah, I didn't like any of it.
I must admit, this is my favorite CIS release, which isn't saying a lot I know. But it's actually a pretty enjoyable listen. With having said that, I still don't get why this album is getting creamed all over more than a Japanese chick in a Bukkake flick. Anyone that calls this album groundbreaking is fooling themself, if you call a newer version of Brand New groundbreaking you should have your asshole gangbanged by a group of rabid wolves. I'm sorry, I just don't see how going from a pop-hardcore band with political lyrics to an atmospheric, post-hardcore band with lyrics that are a lot more personal can be called groundbreaking. And one more thing to include in my rant; I just don't get how these guys can still fall under the hardcore umbrella. What because they go to hardcore shows and maybe wear some hardcore shirts, they are a hardcore band? That's like saying because a black metal band goes to hardcore shows they are hardcore. And it'll be the same kids who say anything that comes close to metal or metalcore cannot be hardcore that will say, "Dude, you fucking serious, these guys are as hardcore as it gets!"
What a perfectly fitting name for this 11 song offering of extremely atmospheric and layered post-hardcore because the CIS that you've grown to love or hate has completely morphed into something new. Apparently the guys in the band wrote the album according to the growth of vocalist Kristian who has grown into a much more mature singer. Not only has he grown vocally but lyrically as well, as I mentioned, they have shifted from the political arena to the more personal realm.
The album does a pretty good job of maintaining an overall purpose if you will, even though they shift from slightly different song writing techniques. The opener "XXXX-The First Thousand Years of Solitude" is definitely one of the harder hittings songs on the album due to good use of discordant phrasings. They also revisit their older sound in the track "Nixon" without it sticking out too much from the rest of the album. Songs like "Orbiter" and "Small Skeletal" are really atmospheric and loose in its structures. It seems like the album starts off more energetic and begins to grow more laid back, then at the middle of the album things start to pick up again until they slowly wind things down to "Orbiter" only to bring back a little energy in the closer "Choker". Honestly, I think it would've been better if they swapped "Orbiter" and "Choker". But hey what do I know.
The recoding really helps this album ebb and flow through it's progressions. Sometimes the bass will be twangy and cutting, at other times it's a bit more round and often uses a good amount of fuzz (like in the song "Unfortunate Tourists"). The guitar tone is very clear and clean, using very little distortion with various effects used throughout. The vocals have plenty of space to breath between the rest of the mix. Overall, I like how the album seems to swell, it'll be laid back and just seem to explode when it needs to.
This one comes with an extremely thick, 12-page booklet that is covered by a black plastic sleeve that covers the cloudy purple skies that are on the front of the booklets cover. On the plastic sleeve it says the band name with the title of the album, on the booklet cover it says Long Live Crime In Stereo. With each flip of the page there is a picture of someone in the band on the one side and the lyrics on the other. To make up for the sweet two page sing along shot in the middle of the book, there is a page with two songs. Definitely a well put together layout.
Rating: 3/5
Songs Worthy of Replay: Vicious Teeth, Unfortunate Tourists and Small Skeletal
Synopsis: It took a lot of time and a lot of listens to finally arrive at a judgement on this. I was going to write this up awhile back but if I did this probably would've gotten a 1 or 2 and that would've been because of the bands past works but I didn't want to be an unfair idiot. So I arrived at this conclusion; this is definitely a good release, not groundbreaking and in my opinion not worthy of some of the worship it's getting, but hey to each their own!