The Almost - Monster Monster (Review)

Artist: The Almost
Album: Monster Monster
Label: Tooth & Nail/Virgin
Release Date: November 3^rd
Genre: Rock
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Rating:

There’s no telling why I am so intrigued by inves­ti­gat­ing an artist’s influences.  Maybe it’s the dis­cov­ery of orig­i­na­tion; where it all began, and how it came to be. Aaron Gillepsie is no exception. I’ve stud­ied him quite intently over the years; fas­ci­nated by his abil­ity to rip the crap out of a drum set night after night as the back-bone of post-hardcore giant Underoath , and then writ­ing catchy rock tunes with The Almost. This story sounds famil­iar, doesn’t it? Well, that’s where we get to Gillepsie’s main influ­ence for writ­ing songs for The Almost; Foo Fighter’s Dave Grohl. Fans of Gillepsie and The Almost have Grohl to thank. After writ­ing Southern Weather, you could tell that Gillepsie was in it for the long haul. His love for writ­ing sin­cere unapolo­getic rock ‘n roll will not soon come to an end, and in comes his sec­ond effort, Monster Monster, with a full band behind him in the record­ing process; Gillepsie is set­ting him­self up for success.

Monster is a project that requires mul­ti­ple lis­tens before mak­ing judgment. The Almost made it easy to fall in love at first lis­ten with their debut, but their sopho­more album is quite dif­fer­ent in this regard. The hooks are not as approach­able at first, but once they catch on, it’s dif­fi­cult to get out of your head. The band made heavy moments heav­ier by adding just the right crunch, and just the right amount of emo­tion from Gillepsie loud cries (see “Young Again”). The rhythms are tighter the sec­ond time around; not sway­ing out of con­trol, but beat­ing with a punch of solid dexterity. This is def­i­nitely a more mature effort, evi­denced by the band’s pre­ci­sion and con­trol with each and every track.

Lyrically, Gillepsie mostly uses per­sonal intro­spec­tion and self-analysis, then implod­ing it over the track with­out sound­ing overly self-absorbed. This method is not sim­ple to decode as he refrains from using obvi­ous phrases that many bands in this genre tend to utilize. As a devout Christian, Gillepsie employs many spir­i­tual themes through­out Monster but is not overtly preachy, refus­ing to alien­ate his listeners. In “No I Don’t” he sings “I’ve got another song in me / because of you I’m chang­ing / I’m learn­ing how to wait”.  Gillepsie has been around the block for a while, and his matu­rity is made evi­dent here.

Musically, the band is not too flashy. Complexity and tech­ni­cal­ity are just not main assets with this kind of music, and it’s nec­es­sary to sac­ri­fice com­pli­cated song struc­tures to allow for more sin­cere and approach­able song­writ­ing. However, the musi­cian­ship is solid, even with­out the convolution. The songs are diverse in this sense. They go from rock-heavy in songs such as the title track and “Want To”, to more pop-induced tracks like “Hands” and “Souls On Ten”, and even throw in some acoustic folk/alt-country in “Hand Grenade” and “Monster”.

The band shows no misstep. Just when you think they’ve fallen a bit, they pick them­selves back up with true hon­est songs.  The kind of songs that are easy to relate to, and don’t iso­late the lis­tener by any means. The Almost’s love for hook-laden rock and diver­sity does not go unno­ticed on Monster Monster. Solid effort through and through.

Track Listing:
1. Monster Monster
2. Lonely Wheel
3. No I Don’t
4. Hands
5. Young Again
6. Summer Summer
7. Hand Grenade
8. Books & Books
9. Souls On Ten
10. Want To
11. Get Through
12. Monster

Similar To: The Classic Crime, Anberlin, There For Tomorrow

Review by: Kyle L.

1. Almost A Monster Pre-Order