Pushing the envelope a little bit
Nick Colosi | Chesterland, OH, USA | 08/25/2009
(4 out of 5 stars)
"After 20 years and 7 records, we've all become familiar with the love it or hate it Casualties sound, but one might wonder how many times it could have been rehashed without getting old. So far the Casualties have been able to keep it fresh, and I really enjoy the newest releases "On the Front Line" and "Under Attack," but I was really excited when I heard that some outside influence was going to make an appearance on "We Are All We Have"
This album, in a nutshell, is what worked about the last two CD's thrown into one and then sprinkled here and there with some genre bending. It explains why the Casualties have been touring with bands like Trash Talk, Leftover Crack, and Municipal Waste, if nothing else. There's a little thrash influence, a little reggae influence, a little metal influence, but more or less this stays true to the Casualties formula and I believe the only people who won't enjoy this CD are those that are still stuck waiting for a sequel to "For the Punx"
There are more sing-along punk tunes on here than any other Casualties' CD, with "We Are All We Have," "Lonely on the streets" and "Hearts bleed black" being the catchiest with lots of whoas and ooohs and hey hey hey's from Jake and Rick. The bests songs on this CD, however, are the ones where the Casualties do a little bit of experimenting, which is something that has happened very little in their 20 years career. We have the thrash-ridden "War is Business" that will rip your face off for just under two minutes, followed by "In the Tombs" which opens and closes in a Sublime/Authority Zero fashion. My personal favorite is "Looking Thru Bloodshot Eyes" which opens with a gritty and eery sounding guitar riff from Jake before breaking into blitz paced punk and then giving into one of the most heartfelt bridges I've ever seen from these guys.
Negatives: "Apocalypse Today" seems like a miss to me right now, opening with a female voice ranting before going into a pretty generic number with a harsh breakdown and pretty "been there done that" lyrics. Maybe it'll grow on me but for now it's pretty bleh. Also, mixing is not as sharp as it has been on the last few albums. Sometimes Rick and Jake are way too quiet with their chanting vocals and sometimes the bass is inaudible, which is a shame because Rick seems to get better and better the longer he's been with this band.
I, like the Casualties, enjoy all kinds of music which is what made this so great for me. For the people that live, breath, and die by street punk this may be too experimental for you. This won't win the Casualties any new fans either, because if you didn't like them before, this isn't different enough to change your mind. This CD will sit best with open minded fans of this band's previous works. Make sure to pick up all the other full length CDs from this band before indulging too deep in this, but to those who have been following the band for as long as I have, have at it, 'cause "We Are All We Have" is a keeper."