Streetlight Manifesto - Everything Goes Numb
I have chosen a ska album as the subject of my latest review. Streetlight Manifesto has formed from the ashes of Catch 22, or so I have been told. I like Catch 22 and have seen them a couple of times. It's a shame they had to break up or explode or die, or whatever happened. I think I have a burned copy of their latest cd and I may well review it if I ever start listening to it. Catch 22 was my favorite ska band so I was eager to see if Streetlight could muster up the same goodness. This album kicks off with some horns a blazin. But they are the good kind of horns, almost dark. It almost sounds like a dark cowboy riding out from the lone trail. It is very neat. The horns are used the way horns should be and you can actually hear guitars. With the exception of a few times when they revert back to generic ska song ways, the horns sound very good and the guitars are more present then simple mindless background. One thing I really like is that many of the songs are fast an loud, yet still retain a darker quality. They aren't bubbly. That shit sucks and is annoying. (except for the aquabats, but we won't get started with that whole thing) The album is pretty solid all the way through. Even those who get the normal midway through the cd snoozes should be raring to go through to the last track. I recommend this album especially for those who like ska and who have previously enjoyed Catch 22 and I also will add it as an enjoyable listen to those who are not particularly fond of the Ska genre. Track(s) of Love: I have Three tracks (technically four) that I really like the most on here. Track 1: Everything Went Numb, Track 9 & 10:A moment of Silence/A Moment of Violence, and Track 11: The Big Sleep . All these tracks are very good. I think Track one may be my favorite out of all of them though. I absolutely love the way it sounds. It is one of the fullest songs I have ever heard and the music is all but genius. The way it moves and how many different steps it has is just amazing really. I love the horns I love the singing, just brilliant. The next two are surely not the same song, but they are along the same lines and even have the same lyrics sometimes. Depending on my mood I can slow it down or speed it up as the first of them has a lighter feel while the second song could be classified as 'balls to the walls'. It's very nice. The last song is good for many reasons. But I think I am cracked and have interpreted the meaning wrong in some way. It reminds me of something personal to me so I like it. Also it has all those catchy Na's I think people like to sing along with. I started with Everything Went Numb and I think I will end with it, picking it as my favorite track on the album. Track(s) of Doom: I am only going to pick one track here and it's not even because I hate it. It's Track 7: Failing, Flailing. And I hate it because of the way the song starts out. The horns are all happy and it pisses me off so much I can't even listen to the rest of the song, and I really did try. Now it's time for the final marks. On a scale that goes from -5 to 5 I give this album a 3. The highest rated album I have reviewed so far. And I give it this rating because I think this is what ska should be. The horns are very present and it doesn't loose that goodness. And it doesn't have the 'Make you want to change the channel feel' that most British Television and most ska bands do. It is not generic in the least. (Except for those parts I mentioned earlier, but hey who's gotten this far in the review. I am sure most ska kids have angrily stopped reading and picked up their pens to send dirty letters to Boston about this.) I am going to let the review stand before I make total war with the sites fan base, hehe. You have your 3, now like it.
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