Allez Allez
(2013)
why you'll love it: Ass-kicking rock and roll
why you'll hate it: Sophomore slump. Poor production. A couple bad songs
I've been dwelling on the past possibly too long. Now it's time for the present. Starting the year off is a release I've been waiting about four years for, a sophomore release by The Night Marchers. This is a Californian garage rock band made up mostly of my personal favorite punk band in the world, Hot Snakes. Of course, Rick Froberg is fronting his own band now, so this is a John "Speedo" Reis joint (leader of the LEGENDARY rock band, Rocket From The Crypt).
I've you're familiar with RFTC, or any of John Reis' other projects you know what to expect here, and get a lot of it. When he sings "The only things that speak to me are loud, dumb, and mean!" I can't tell if that is foreshadowing, or an proactive excuse. Allez Allez has some of the most boastful dick-swinging songwriting I've heard from Speedo since the heyday of Rocket From The Crypt. Maybe even a bit more. Most of the songs on this album appear to be about how talented, successful, and popular he portrays himself as. It's a gangsta rap amount of self-aggrandizing, as a carnival of buzzsaw guitars and lo-fi drums accompany. Again, if you are a RFTC fan, you should be nodding yes to this, aggressively. Allez Allez is the closest thing to a Rocket From The Crypt album since the band disassembled in 2005. Even more so than All Systems Go 3 (2008), which contains many demos for a scrapped RFTC album.
My only problem with all this is The Night Marchers debut album, See You in Magic (2008). It greatly exceeded my expectations of what this band can be. The production, the songwriting, the range of sounds - all much more of a complete package than something simply "loud, dumb, and mean". Basically, Allez Allez sounds like it should have been the first album by these guys, and See You in Magic is the big next step that should come now, especially after 4 years. It's hard for me to listen to this album, without thinking of it as a huge step back.
There are a few other little things that bug me. Quite a few of these songs have been knocking about for a while. "All Hits", "Fisting The Fan Base", "Tropical Depression", and "Thar She Blows" have been titles I've been either hearing or hearing about since way back when this album was supposed to be called Villager. And they all sound pretty much just like they did when I first heard them, which makes me wonder why it took so long to get this thing finished. And most importantly, where the hell is "Scene Report"? Seriously, this song rocks!
If you haven't had your ear to the ground over the past four years about this stuff, I suppose none of my complaints should keep you from enjoying this. Objectively, the only thing poor about this album are two songs in the middle ("Pain" and "Two Guitars Sing") which are both plodding, and have lyrics all the swagger in the world can't save. Most of these songs are great despite the flat production. "Fisting The Fan Base", and its marathon of false endings, really shines through as a damn good song. I wish it got the level of production it deserved. The inclusion of horns and harmonicas sound good when you notice them, but tend to get buried in the mix.
Maybe I made a stupid mistake of expecting too much from a band that likes it simple. I came away from this album feeling kinda burned, but in the long run, I'll be thankful that music like this is still being made.
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