Glassjaw
Material Control
When Glassjaw burst onto the scene in 2000 with their debut
full-length, Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Silence, the band walked
a fine line of hardcore and emo. Led by vocalist Daryl Palumbo's intense
screams and oddly accentuated singing, the record fluctuated between razor
sharp aggression and delicate melody; fits of rage turned into tender singing
and back again. It was on their 2002 follow-up Worship And Tribute that the
group's songwriting matured into a more fluid blend of the contradicting
sounds, utilizing Palumbo's penchant for catchy melodies and guitar player
Justin Beck's noisy, effect-laden riffs to achieve a fuller, more realized
sound.
Although Glassjaw would regularly hint at work-in-progress
on their third album, the group wouldn't be heard from again for the next nine
years when in 2011 they released a pair of EPs, the first of which, Our Color
Green, would contain some of their strongest material to date. Tracks like
"All Good Junkies Go To Heaven" and "You Think You're (John
Fucking Lennon)" further blurred the lines between the heavy and the
mellow, the hooks and the noisy chaos complementing rather than contrasting
each other. But with the short run time of the EPs, Glassjaw wasn't able to
capture the same ebb and flow motion that had made their full-length albums so
endearing.
Unfortunately, that isn't to be found on Material Control
either. The band picks up sonically right where they left off six years ago.
Punchy, overdriven bass lines fuel the groove to Beck and Palumbo's signature
stylings, but most of the material presented sounds like fragments of songs and
unfinished ideas mashed together. The record never achieves cohesiveness,
neither in nor amongst its songs.
Opener "New White Extremity," one of the strongest
of the batch, finds new band members Bill Rymer of Dillinger Escape Plan, and
Travis Sykes anchoring chaotic, clamorous riffs on drums and bass,
respectively. Sykes plays complex, bouncy lines that lend direction to the
sometimes seemingly compass-less bouts of noise, carving out room for Palumbo's
wails and moans.
But throughout most of Material Control, the vocalist
struggles to find that space. With an often overbearing, claustrophobic
production showcasing Beck's turbulent, in your face playing, Palumbo is
rendered hook-less and buried beneath the wall of sound. He tries to overcome
this in "Shira" and "My Conscious Weighs A Ton" with the addition
of backing "ooh's" that sound out of place amongst the rawness of the
album. The vocalist is again lost in "Citizen," a track that sounds
like every member of the band is playing a different song, with Palumbo
wrestling to tie it all together.
"Strange Hours," another highlight, with its
dreamy spaciness, is taken right out of the post-2005 Deftones playbook. The
pulsing bass line and twangy chords hang back enough to let Palumbo finally
stretch out his vocals a bit. However, unlike a similar Glassjaw track like
"Must've Run All Day" (off Worship And Tribute), it meanders through
its four minutes searching for a next part that never comes.
It's when Glassjaw is at their loudest that they are also at
their most forgettable on Material Control. "Pompeii" sounds like the
perfect lead up to a missing ending piece, while "Golgotha" jumps
between patched together riffs, uncomfortably shifting around half-baked ideas.
The guitars trudge through a cacophonous mess, never quite settling into the
strength exhibited by Glassjaw's heavier past.
At this point in their career, Glassjaw is essentially Beck
and Palumbo's band with rotating members filling in as needed. With neither of
the key songwriters working at their best, they are left sounding like a
watered down version of their past selves.
Bottom Line: Material Control isn't a bad record; there are
moments that are reminiscent of what made Glassjaw great in the early 2000's and the
individual performances by the musicians are top tier. However, for most of its
duration, the band seems lost and unfocused. The songs on Material Control just
don't stand up to the expectations Glassjaw has set.
Glassjaw - New White Extremity - Material Control
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