The walking wounded ride again!
It has to be said that although I have quite a distinctive taste for certain types of music, I have had the pleasure of having some quite pleasant variants to review, and New York's Alt Punk Rockers, Bayside, are certainly one of those. Despite the tragedy of the notorious Halloween road accident in 2005 that stole the life of drummer John 'Beatz' Holohan, Bayside have come together and like true poets have used the pain to produce a well thought out and constructed album with the apply titled, 'The Walking Wounded'.
Right from the very first riff of the title track, 'The Walking Wounded' we have melodies that are stretched and moulded into strong riffs as Anthony Raneri sings. On, 'They're Not Horses, They're Unicorns' Anthony sings out, "You're pulling at your teeth // and on the Novocain you pop in your cheek..." Bayside have been described as being a bit like Alkaline Trio with a touch of Brand New and Weezer, and really this says it all. Songs like 'Carry On' with its fast Punk riffs before slowing things down, show elements of Alkaline Trio and Brand New, whilst, 'I And I', does sound a little like a mid-tempo Weezer song. Don't get me wrong, this is no 'Sweater Song' or 'Buddy Holly', but with fuzzy guitars, and chanting of, "I and I // We're taking control of our lives!" it's not always about the dark side of Rock.
With chugging guitars and a clean drum beat, 'Choice Hops And Bottled Self-Esteem' is more than just a nicely titled song, it has a single potential, crying out to be released. Whilst later on, 'Head On A Plate' shows how this band were able to perform acoustically after the tragedy as a two-piece, thus showing that in order to write for the acoustic guitar, you have to have some depth and meaning in the lyrics, and this is exactly what we have here. The rest of the album yo-yo's from fast paced Punk Rock back and forth to slow, or mid-tempo simply constructed tunes dripping with melodies, and leave you thinking that this is great album.
Bayside prove that you don't have to be a Punk band and play fast paced, fully-maxed high-octane music exploding with big riffs, and heavy beats, but you can have that depth which is sometimes lacking from other bands. It's intriguingly dark, and well worth more than a fleeting listen. Bayside have taken life head on, and when other bands may well have given up and called it a day, Bayside have stuck to doing what they do best, and have produced and album that they may have a job improving on next time!