[rayword45]

Day 4: Whenever, If Ever by The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die

Dear anyone who has a band name that unnecessarily long,

FUCK YOU.

Okay let's get to listening. Today I will be reading The Maxx while listening, because I already watched the whole cartoon series and now I have to read to get the rest of the story. The review will hopefully be slightly more indepth this time since my attention span for reading is shorter than your appendage.

You know, fingers are pretty short.

Did I mention I'm biased against emo music? I try my best to avoid biases, but the concept of emo is one I can't seem to get behind. Everything I've heard that isn't moderholy shit this guys voice is almost IceJJFish bad. Bad, bad, bad. It actually sounds like he's using a double-track effect to make it WORSE, and singing out of key on purpose to make it WORSE. Is that an attempt to convey despair? I hope it's not, because it doesn't. It just sounds horrible. Anyways, what I was going to say is that everything I've heard in terms of emo has been a disappointment. Most modern emo stuff sucks, Sunny Day Real Estate was an exercise in monotony after that first track off of Seven, and Rites of Spring felt like a subpar Fugazi album.

The use of horns in Fightboat is cool but it leads up to nothing. Instrument wise this isn't so bad, but god, do all the tracks have this same drunken Rody Walker style of singing? It's more laughable than irritating, thus I can sit through it without ripping off my earbuds in anger like I do any time I hear Billy Corgan, but goddamn, I could take this a bit more seriously if the singer sobered up. God destroy these consecutive ads please. Let me get to sleep faster.

Any time there are group shouts, this album wins in my eyes. Any time we get into some quiet buildup, this album wins in my eyes. Any time the singer starts to strain, this album falters. The transition from You Will Never Go to Space to The Layers of Skin We Drag Around is fantastic in spite of inebriated vocals, and that diminuendo in Ultimate Steve is breathtaking. Then we get to drunken folk-rock man in Gig Life and it's all over, like crashing from coffee.

Onto the last two tracks now, and Low Light Assembly is actually really pretty, with the choral vocals and tremolo-laden guitar. Definitely a highlight, partially due to the fact that the vocals aren't hilarious. As a matter of fact, WHY DON'T THEY UTILIZE THESE OTHER VOCALISTS MORE?! They clearly don't suck, the lead singer clearly sucks. Use logic more, band. The bits of feedback toward the end are something I'm admittedly a sucker for, like a Kangaroo.

Getting Sodas is as post-rocky as the album gets, with the longer runtime of 7 minutes, blatant crescendo use and the only horns I've noticed outside of Fightboat. It's basically a 3 minute song which then goes into a 4 minute crescendo, which leads up to ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. It ends right when it should explode. Maybe I'm missing something, but goddamn that was disappointing.

Well, this album wasn't that bad. It was best when it was more post-rock than emo, and more listenable when it was instrumental. But not that bad. Perhaps my bias against emo is starting to go away... Perhaps.

But don't try to tell me that Sunny Day Real Estate is anything more than overhyped bullcorn.

Best Track: Low Light Assembly
Rating: 6/10 (Jesus my ratings are so middling it's pathetic)