Leftover Crack – Constructs of the State

© 2015 Fat Wreck Chords

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[rating:8.5/10]

constructs_of_the_stateThere’s a warm feeling that overcomes some people when certain sounds, something familiar and inviting plays. I’m getting those kind of feelings now as I listen to the new Leftover Crack album, Constructs of the State. It’s been the better part of a decade since the controversial and exceptional Fuck World Trade was released. Just in time for the holiday season, for your gatherings with kith and kin are the crack rocksteady sounds both old and new to warm your cold dead hearts.

The new release stays true to form with 13 scathing salvos against a broken system, what’s new is more sonic diversity. Track five, Slave to the Throne is a brutally metallic track with speed metal thrash riffs more akin to Slayer or Obituary than more common ska-punk outfits. There’s also a wider range of instrumentation in play with folkish sounds of banjo and possibly a washboard on track six, Bedbugs and Beyond.

Many of the tracks feature film or tv soundtrack backdrops to frame the context of the lyrics. “Of course I’m dangerous, I’m police. I can do terrible things to people..with impunity.” from True Detective sets the tone of the track Corrupt Vision. In addition to the tonal variety of the individual tracks, there’s plenty of guest vocals including track four, System Fucked featuring Jesse Michaels of Op Ivy.

The album continues in a consistent manner, lashing out at broken systems of finance, patriarchy, healthcare and prison systems. The sounds of the songs may change from track to track but the tone is the same. There’s something very broken. I don’t know if an album can provide solutions to the complex problems that we face as a society, but if it can make people think it’s a start.

The album does get to a point where I believe that it’s almost too overproduced. It’s a fine example of production, but the it serves to burnish the raw edge that I’m missing. Between that and what I think is an imbalance of more ska heavy content I’ve had to knock the score down a bit. All aside it’s a fantastic album, fit for a time when things are in constant threat of being ripped apart at the seams.

Final note: I’ve been going over this release for about a week now. Initially I didn’t feel quite so strongly about it as I’ve become over successive listens. The more times I hear it, the more the music sinks in and the impact of the band’s rage takes hold. We’re living during some incredible times, but we’re also living through some incredibly fucked up times. If you ask me, it’s times like these that music is the best weapon against a war to which we’ve all been blindly conscripted.

–Jerry Actually

Morning Glory – Poets Were My Heroes

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© 2012 Fat Wreck Chords
[rating:9.5/10]

I’m not sure about you, but I’ve been waiting years for this CD to come out. Ever since way back in the day when the world was all Choking Victim this and Leftover Crack (rock steady) that, I’ve been looking forward to hearing more from Morning Glory. Well about ten long years after the bands formation and nearly as many since I was listening to “This Is No Time Ta Sleep” and “The Whole World Is Watching”, there is finally something new for me to jam into my ears.

“Poets Were My Heroes” is the brand new full length from Morning Glory. You might be familiar with the band if you are familiar with front man Ezra Kire’s past projects, the aforementioned Choking Victim and Leftover Crack as well as InDK, or perhaps not. Morning Glory presents a more orchestrated and compellingly complex example of sounds perpetuated by the other bands; more anthemic and more epic.

The new release consists of “official” tracks, 1 – 13 and an unlisted track. They are all, seriously, stellar. The overall sound blends more common place punk and ska beats and riffs with sing-a-long chorus melodies and eerie horn stabs. Overall the effect is pretty damned impressive. The arrangement flows well from each track to the next, building, swelling, subsiding, and continually progressing until the album culminates in the alarmingly sincere, not unlike a shockingly sober Shane McGowan, vocals and piano of the final track, “Care of Me”.  (I have it on good faith that the whole CD was opted just based on this track.)

To close, this album is one of those rare classics that exemplify the idea of being more than the sum of its parts. Each piece builds together to form a whole that is, thus far, the best release of 2012.

–Jerry Actually

For fans of: Chocking Victim, InDK, Team Spider

Tracks:
01. Stevie Dinner
02. Everything’s A Song (To Me)
03. Shelter From The Spoon
04. Poets Were My Heroes
05. March Of The Asylum
06. Quemar Las Fronteras
07. Divide By
08. Orphan’s Holiday
09. Touch
10. Patiently
11. Life’s A Long Revenge
12. Another Way (Outside The Walls Of Eden)
13. Born To December
14. Care Of Me

http://www.fatwreck.com/band/index/105