The Blood Brothers: Young Machetes Album Review
The Blood Brothers' Final Album is Chaotic and Experimental
Dec 19, 2008
When it was released in October of 2006, there were no signs of imminent breakup from the band. Fans only saw an album that combined the two signature sounds of The Blood Brothers, wailing cabaret-like piano driven tracks and jagged, dissonant hardcore punk. In retrospect however, the album serves as the perfect epitaph for a band whose legacy has been one of relentless innovation and evolution.
Young Machetes' Songs
While the band's fans have been somewhat divided over their previous two efforts, this album has songs that appeal to the senses of all their fans. Young Machetes is equal parts Burn, Piano Island, Burn (2003) and Crimes (2004). For fans of the former, there is plenty of thrashing hardcore that was somewhat lacking on Crimes.
Songs like “Set Fire To The Face On Fire,” “Vital Beach,” and “We Ride Skeletal Lightning” and are all short, thrashy songs full of intense guitars and ear splitting screams. The lead guitar line of the latter song actually sounds like a descending bolt of lightning, with the rest of the instruments providing the requisite thunder. Little details like this make the album a joy to listen to even years after its release.
There are just as many songs for fans of the more experimental and piano driven side of the band as well. Notable keyboard-centered numbers such as “Laser Life” and “Spit Shine Your Black Clouds” provide some brief respite from the crashing guitar of Cody Votolato and are also quite catchy.
Interestingly, the songs that combine both styles of the band are among the best on the album. “Camouflage, Camouflage” segues into a quiet piano interlude that explodes with furious angular guitars and some of the best lyrics the band has ever written. “Giant Swan” is mellow and quiet until around the three minute mark, when the song bursts into a totally different beast with violent guitars and a dual screaming ear assault.
Young Machetes' Lyrics and Structure
Lyrically, the same bizarre and abstract thoughts and stories found on their previous work is implemented here. For those who didn’t like the strange and oftentimes disturbing imagery that vocalists Jordan Blilie and Johnny Whitney employed in previous work, they won’t find much improvement. The delivery is also top notch, with both singers' voices and screams alternately overlapping each other and trading off to one another, creating the sense of listening in on a psychotic conversation.
An important part of this album is its structure, which ensures that songs of both their styles aren’t bunched together, and that some of the weaker tracks are spread out so there isn’t a part of the record that lags or becomes boring. The only odd decision on the band's part is that Young Machetes' two longest songs are the final two tracks on the album, which slows the pacing down at the end.
The Blood Brothers have always put 150% into their music. With this album they rose above expectations, creating a work of art that appeals to their entire fan base while growing musically and staying true to their roots. In hindsight, now that the band has dissolved into numerous side-projects, Young Machetes seems the only possible conclusion of this brilliant band; the culmination of ten years worth of musical evolution and relentless innovation
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