Titus Andronicus - The Monitor
“Baby we were born to die!!!” With this glorious line, New Jersey teenage wasted bar punk rockers kick off their new album, based on the bloody Civil War. This concept album is a great journey from the lakes of Ohio to wasteland of New Jersey; the band still kicking ass from beginning to the end. There are only 10 songs in the album, but it’s about an hour long. Now this is a troubling thought: an hour long punk rock concept album about Civil War. The thing is… although this is a low blow of music criticism, I can’t think of a better word to describe this album…. kick-ass.
Throughout the album, there are little excerpts and monologues based on Civil War hidden between songs. These excerpts only give more provocative image to the album as the album continues to grow through and through. The lyrics in the album are very provocative, violent, and vividly narrative. As lead growler, Patrick Stickles, screams and hisses with warnings about “a war that we cannot win,/ (Well Christ… F**K ME.)” these lyrics comes off very colloquial and apocalyptic at the same time. In musical perspective, it has its calmdowns, buildups, and total freakouts. The balance of these moods is incredibly spontaneous and explosive, exciting the listeners with each freakouts. The guitar solos in these songs are gnarly and guitar riffs are simple yet gritting. The chorus in the album are fist-pumping hardcore and easily shoutable for everyone.
This Titus Andronicus’s new album is a total getaway from their lo-fi punk rock about self-destruction and moves to hi-fi punk rock about pessimistic world destruction. Their effort to shred this album apart cannot be ignored.
-Taewook Lucas Kang. Assistant Music Director. (THE BLOCK! 5-8PM Friday)
