BUY ON AMAZON: Blood Brothers – Burn Piano Island, Burn
The Blood BrothersBurn Piano Island, BurnArtist Direct Records (Dreamworks)amanda.block@artistdirectrecords.com
What The Blood Brothers offer up on this recording is not easily accpepted. Your audio-immune system will probably shut it out as noise. However, after 2 or 3 listens to this full-length compact disc, the style begins to rub off by magic of repetition or hidden catchiness.
In original hardcore style, this brand of punk rock is too aversive for all but the most dedicated listener. With two full-time vocalists screaming like they have become too intimate with the gasoline, Burn Piano Island, Burn is an impenetrable monster of an album. Fierce and crispy guitars jab into a musical body filled by and intense rhythm section and the occasional piano, xylophone, or rare synth timbre.
Most of the album seems rushed (in tempo and prodution), but there are occasional breaks for slower melodic focus. The familiarity that comes with repeated listenings will cause the rushed parts to seem clear and organized. one will eventually come to feel that The Blood Brothers possess qualities that reach beyond the noixy hardcore that one may initially perceive as the whole of their sound.
Vocals range from screams that could shave a cat to the voice from that annoying “Teenage Dirtbag” song, and the parts used to fill in the holes in their genreral sound range just as far in style. Various keyboard sounds, ska-like upstrokes and quick lead guitar licks appear unexpectedly in the mix, and one wonders how the band reproduces each of these minor parts, not to mention the many pages of screwed-up lyrics.
After many listens, this album is getting better and better… I didn’t like this compact disc very much the first time I heard it. While I can’t claim to have understood it at this point, I must say the entire album seems pretty incredible. I also expect it to get better. Maybe the standards have simply been lowered, or perhaps The Blood Brothers are really on to something… It’s a close call, but I’m leaning toward the latter.
