Off With Their Heads - Home (08/10/2014)
Off With Their Heads are a bit like a reverse mullet: despite the cover of the wild party up front, it's straight to the point behind it all.
The underground pop-punkers have released a plethora of cult beloved albums like 2007's Hospitals. Since then, the lads have travelled all round the world (including a brief stop here in 2011) and gotten wiser; which here means found more things to make you bummed about mid mosh. So is it time for Off With Their Heads to come back home? Or is some old hospital rehabilitation in order? Starting with a hook straight out of a Hot Water Music album, vocalist Ryan Young screams out at no one in particular "There are no words to describe the awful feeling I have inside". It's refreshing to find a recent pop-punk album that is missing the overdone trope of 'girl troubles' so Home already has a lot on its side. It's clear that Off With Their Heads are much more than four guys trying to relive their youth through pizza and distorted guitars. |
Your standard pop punk fair is still here with woahs and power chords aplenty but Home still feels heavier than most other works out. Whether this is from the melancholy and occasionally melodramatic lyrics or from the incredibly tight production is anyone's guess. Even from the cheapest of $2 shop headphones it feels as if the band is playing right in front of you. Luckily they're not really, so you don't have to feel awkward about having a man bearing himself to you via screaming.
While Home has a much cleaner sound than early efforts, the album captures the unrestrained franticness of yesteryear. Unfortunately that means a few issues have been carried forward. At certain points in the half an hour long album, you'll begin to swear that you just heard the same riff or progression not five minutes ago. There are some points that seem to trail on a second too long in there too, which when on an album that flows otherwise seamlessly from track to track means a lot.
Home really requires a proper sit down to listen to, a property that sets them miles apart from most others in the genre. With this record, Joyce Manor's new LP, and the addition of cult beloveds Pianos Become the Teeth and Circa Survive, it looks as if Epitaph is rebuilding itself into the former glory it once held. And while nothing from Home will be played as the group march in to retake their crown, it'll surely be sung on the streets days after.
Ben Spencer
While Home has a much cleaner sound than early efforts, the album captures the unrestrained franticness of yesteryear. Unfortunately that means a few issues have been carried forward. At certain points in the half an hour long album, you'll begin to swear that you just heard the same riff or progression not five minutes ago. There are some points that seem to trail on a second too long in there too, which when on an album that flows otherwise seamlessly from track to track means a lot.
Home really requires a proper sit down to listen to, a property that sets them miles apart from most others in the genre. With this record, Joyce Manor's new LP, and the addition of cult beloveds Pianos Become the Teeth and Circa Survive, it looks as if Epitaph is rebuilding itself into the former glory it once held. And while nothing from Home will be played as the group march in to retake their crown, it'll surely be sung on the streets days after.
Ben Spencer