The Emo Album Club: The Albatross and the Architect

[Isbjørn]

Strikeforce Diablo: The Albatross and the Architect

Title: The Albatross and the Architect
Artist: Strikeforce Diablo
Year: 2004

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Sorry, I'm a bit late... I completely forgot to make this thread. Better late than never, I guess.

[Mondo Bungle]

Message me should anyone need help listening

[GuD]

Only a few tracks in, really digging it so far.

More thoughts to come.


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Sharp Tongue, No Teeth: Exciting intro, distorted sounding vocals are pretty 90s emo sounding. I really like the guitar work a lot. 3/3

Plastic Astronaut: Really dug the intro. Those riffs towards the end. Just, damn. 3/3

All Things Cloven: Flows from track 2 really nicely by starting off with some rolling drums and rif***e. Really like the lyrics I can make out. 2/3

Nasdaq Black: Complex rif***e in the beginning, bleeds into a more simple blast of a tune when vox come in. Back to the same riff. Cool formula. Lyrics halfway through the track "It's all the closing of hands and clenching of fists, that fell the city right down to the brick/It's all supply and demand and buying blood from the sick with promises that are counterfit." Damn. Heavy ****, yo. A poetic way to describe the collapse of an unjust society. I felt like the track just broke a little too abruptly and need something more familiar for this part. Closing with the exact same riff wasn't quite enough for me but I still loved the track. 2.5/3

Between the Two: Change of pace- bit slower. Familiar guitar tone but it differs a bit, sounds a little cleaner at times while singer groans. Segue to some heavy riffs. Bass+drums+catharsis, occasional guitars backing up. Felt like this one was a bit repetitive and dragged on too long. 1.5/3

Featherweight: Bit of reverb or slapback or something on the drums I don't recall hearing before, sounds cool. Jangly guitar intro to crunchy rif***es. Trebly-sounding basslines. Pretty much repeating the same ideas from before, back and forth from clean to crunchy with some yelling. 2/3

Akimbo: Really, really, really love the intro on this one. The instrumentation does change up much. The first few minutes are a nice, more chill refresher that adds breaks up the monotony a bit. You can start to feel it build near the end but the catharsis isn't that explosive, something of a let down. I was hoping for an "I AM THE ANGRY SON!!!!!!" kind of moment but nope. 2/3

The Stretch: Brings back some familiar sounds, vaguely similar riffs. Really like the bass on this track. Same complaint as before, little too repetitive. I don't mind hearing the same riff over and over but I kept expecting it to change into something more expressive. 1.5/3

Fear Humungus: I was iffy about this track at first but it grew on me after the first two minutes. Pretty sick instrumental. 2.75/3

Dragon O'Clock: This track sounds pretty different from the others. The vocals are different and almost remind me of ATDI at times. I wish their were more tracks like this one. Gets a little weak towards the 3min mark. Picks up again. 2.75/3.

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So, that put its at about 23/30 for me. An average album, at first listen. A lot of this reminds me of early Hot Water Music meets Jawbox. Seems like they repeat a lot of the same ideas throughout the record. They're good ideas and I enjoy hearing them but I feel like they're ideas that were new and exciting at the time but not as cathartic anymore. I prefer a little singing/vocal melodies/harmonies in my post hardcore. This record is pretty much all yelling, not a bad thing just gets repetitive. I tend to have lukewarm reactions to albums on the first listen, I'll give it another go for sure.

[Goofle]

I thought it was okay, but it failed to really grip me. Started off well and finished in a solid fashion, but it just kind of passed me by - especially the middle portion. I was going to listen to it again but I don't think my views would change much.

3/5

Can I make a suggestion that some questions are added to this club? Makes it a little easier to give an accurate review because I am not really a great writer and generally just say very little.