Anyway, enough about that. Time to get tubular!
1. After Laughter - Paramore
I've made my thoughts on Paramore clear in the past so you might be asking yourself why I chose to discuss their latest album here. My girlfriend has been listening to this album non-stop recently but I have to say, I didn't actually hate it. It's a huge departure from their whiny, teen oriented faux-Rock sound into more of an upbeat, 80s New Wave affair and whilst there aren't any songs on the album that I love to the point of wanting to listen to them of my own free will, After Laughter does a good job of holding my interest until the last song is done.
As suggested by the album's name and cover, After Laughter is all about contrasting the pleasant, superficial visuals with more sombre lyrical themes. This is perfectly demonstrated in the album opener, "Hard Times". It might sound like something played during Disco Night at your local club but it's not all wine and roses when you give it a second listen. Whilst there are plenty of tracks that go great lengths to sound joyful by blending modern and 80s musical effects ("Told You So", "Grudges"), the band aren't afraid to get artistically mopey with their music when appropriate ("26", "Tell Me How") offering musical variety that keeps listeners engaged.
Overall, the band did a pretty great job of creating a new album that isn't all about hollow nostalgia. Sure, it's present but it feels less like a cheap attempt at getting noticed and more like an intentional desire to blend a musical sound people associate with happiness with lyrical themes about loss and depression. If the band combined these themes with exclusively modern Pop elements, it'd sound generic and probably too far removed from the band's sound. At least After Laughter's New Wave elements still trace back to the band's past as a Rock band, although I can't imagine fans of their high school Pop Rock dirge taking a liking to this as much as previous albums. Personally, I'd say it's great if you previously disliked Paramore and would recommend it to fans of 80s Pop.
1. Hard Times
2. Rose-Colored Boy
3. Told You So
4. Forgiveness
5. Fake Happy
6. 26
7. Pool
8. Grudges
9. Caught In The Middle
10. Idle Worship
11. No Friend
12. Tell Me How
ALBUM RATING - 7/10
2. Feel The Steel - Steel Panther
When I last discussed Steel Panther and their latest album, Lower The Bar, I talked about how they were overly reliant on their crude lyrics as a parody of the Hair Metal genre. Since this was their first album, I thought it'd be appropriate to look at the band before they started beating a dead horse. Naturally, this album is far stronger than Lower The Bar...and far more inappropriate, but I'll get onto that in a bit. Album opener "Death To All But Metal" is the audio equivalent to the opening fight scene in The Lego Batman Movie; all the cards are on the table and you find yourself asking "Jesus, how the hell can they possibly go higher than this?"
It consists of the band mouthing off against modern Pop/Rock artists such as blink-182 and Kanye West whilst also containing some amusing self-referential lyrics about their rhyme structure. It introduces you to Steel Panther and sets the tone for the rest of the album. However, just because the first song is a powerhouse of Hair Metal riffs and aggression, that doesn't mean the band shy away from power ballad parodies such as "Community Property" and "Stripper Girl". They're decent tracks but if the band wanted to sound like a real 80s Hair Metal band, they probably should've toned the production values down (or at least waited until follow up albums to use string accompaniments).
It's hard to describe this album without using the same phrases from my Lower The Bar review, as the band still lovingly yet subtly plagiarise their 80s Hard Rock influences such as Bon Jovi ("Party All Day") and Whitesnake ("Fat Girl") but the entire album is spoilt by dumb lyrics that milk mildly amusing gags raw. The only song I rate highly is one that was clearly written to get radio promotion, "Eyes Of A Panther", as it's just a solid Hair Metal track that isn't trying to be funny or rude. If the album had more of these on the standard edition tracklist, I'd like it a lot more, but as it stands it's a good joke gone too far.
1. Death To All But Metal
2. Asian Hooker
3. Community Property
4. Eyes Of A Panther
5. Fat Girl
6. Eatin' Ain't Cheatin'
7. Party All Day
8. Turn Out The Lights
9. Stripper Girl
10. The Shocker
11. Girl From Oklahoma
ALBUM RATING - 6/10
Finally, an album by a band I used to love and have probably seen live more than any other Rock/Metal group.
3. The National Health - Maximo Park
Despite sounding like a typical modern UK Indie band for their first three albums, I still rated Maximo Park better than other generic bands of a similar genre like Arctic Monkeys and Razorlight because they had a bit more energy to them. Their fourth album could be considered more of the same but to me, sounds a bit less like Rock and more like 80s Alternative and Synth-Pop blended into a new sound. Despite this, the album does start off as Rock. Album opener "When I Was Wild" is a minute long soft introduction to the true album opener and title track, "The National Health". This track inappropriately paints a picture of fast paced modern Rock but damn, it's a good tune.
A better opener probably would've been the lead single, "Hips And Lips". Sure, it has some Rock elements but it's largely built around New Romantic style vocals and synth melodies. The rest of the album contains a collection of Alternative tracks that once again blend familiarity of 80s groups such as REM with a more contemporary sound ("Until The Earth Would Open", "Wolf Among Men") and a few synth heavy tracks that wouldn't sound out of place at Goth clubs ("Banlieue").
This album feels more like a collection of songs thrown together than a solid, cohesive album. Overall, The National Health doesn't quite "experiment" as much as I imagine the band felt they did after releasing it but as a follow up to previous albums, it's pretty good. To me, the better tracks are ones where the Rock aspects take precedence over the Synth-Pop ones as opposed to mixing them evenly or giving Pop priority and the album doesn't feature too many of them. However, if you like modern Indie with a generous splashing of 80s Pop, I'd recommend this album. If you want more energetic Rock with some heavy keyboard accompaniment, check out Our Earthly Pleasures instead.
1. When I Was Wild
2. The National Health
3. Hips And Lips
4. The Undercurrents
5. Write This Down
6. Reluctant Love
7. Until The Earth Would Open
8. Banlieue
9. This Is What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted
10. Wolf Among Men
11. Take Me Home
12. Unfamiliar Places
13. Waves Of Fear
ALBUM RATING - 7/10
And that's October! Have a happy Halloween and I'll see you next month!
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