Am I chewing tin foil or listening to Against Me!?

So I went out on a limb on the Against Me! album this week. Just like sports teams are faced with trap games (Appalachia St. for instance), music lovers are faced with critical trap albums. As I’ve mentioned in this space before, the more music you listen to, the more you appreciate the stuff that sounds different. And music critics are the ultimate freaks that way--they listen for a living so anything that stretches out the edges will naturally have more appeal to them.

The best compliment to Against Me! is they sound different, trouble is they don’t sound very good. They’re not fun to listen to.

I couldn’t wait for this week to end so I could move on to my next selection. Many of the things the critics probably love about Against Me! are the things that start to wear on you after repeat listens. Lead singer Tom Gabel has a voice you would never hear in other screamo bands. Gabel has a deep, thick vocal more Bob Mould or Henry Rollins or god forbid Crash Test Dummies—than standard emo fare. And for that reason the music takes on a whole different sound. But the more I listen to Against Me! the more I think Gabel isn’t singing in his natural pitch. He’s using his “singing voice” –and I’ve never been a fan of vocalists masking on the microphone and forcing things. Not to mention it’s just hard to listen to his voice for a long period of time.

Unlike most of the emo stuff, Against Me’s lyrics are more high school counselor than teenage angst. “Stop!” sounds like a straight edge cover of High School Musical with its “Stop! Take some time to think, figure out what’s important to you” chorus. I think they actually added the F-bomb to the lyrics at the end just so it wouldn’t sound like a straight edge show tune.

The only song worth mentioning on New Wave has the long emo title, “Borne on the FM Waves of the Heart.” It’s a great little hot pocket of a duet with Tegan Quin from Tegan and Sara. “Borne on the FM Waves of the Heart” is like an old school metal ballad - you could see Lita Ford turning up here. The guitar is great and the song ebbs and flows so much the lyric “This room feels like it’s going to explode” could just as easily be talking about the ballad itself busting at the seams. We see the lyrical maturity here as well. “Borne on the FM Waves of the Heart” is basically a summer fling song about two people who know going in that they’re making promises they can’t keep. As a whole there’s a lot more head than heart to Against Me’s version of emo rock.

Another reason I was interested in checking out Against Me! was Bruce Springsteen turning up at one of their live shows and saying they had soul. I can see what the Boss liked here, these kids certainly have something to say. The lyrics are mature and they take a stance on songs like “Americans Abroad.” Clearly these guys are not apathetic youth, and are left leaning like Bruce himself. I think what Bruce probably liked about the band is that they’re not afraid to take a stance unlike a lot of their eyeliner emo peers.

In short, Against Me! didn’t compute for me at all. Gabel’s vocal gives the band a meat-head edge which I couldn’t handle for any extended period of time. It’s like the music has no neck to it. And the mature lyrics really felt too preachy and responsible when I was just looking to have a good time. Therefore New Wave finds itself in the Music Martes ghetto alongside Velvet Revolver’s Libertad. Yuck.