The Decemberists - The King is Dead

This album is not for everyone, as I realized the other day. On first listen, the vocal hook of "Don't Carry it All" was enough to get my attention. I decided to put the album on in an after school session in my classroom. After a song or two went by, I heard; "Ugh. WHAT IS THIS?" My teen pop conneseuer, had weighed in.
The second track "calamity song" glows in the wake of R.E.M. with hints of Neil Young. Their previous album, The Crane Wife, was decent, but the seven minute songs left my short attention span wanting more.
Again, this album is not for everyone, just don't put me on that list. Plenty of catchy vocal male + female vocal harmonies to keep this on repeat for a while.

B+

The Damned Things - Ironiclast

I glance over and this kid is taking huge strides while oddly holding his hands in the air. He is moshing in slow motion. Really slow motion, even making a slow motion-y type deep voice sound. "Who is this kid?" I ask to my friend who dragged me along to this hardcore show freshman year of college. "That's keith buckley" he responded.
Keith buckley, the frontman of The Dammed Things, started as a member of buffalo's madmen, Every Time I Die. After years of touring, he slow moshed his way into the attention of Joe Troghman from falloutboy and Scott Ian from Anthrax. With the addition of a few additional members, The Dammed Things have created an album far beyond my expectations.
With equal parts falloutboy bubble gum melody, Anthrax's power, and Every Time I Die's irony, they have created one of the best hard rock records of 2010.
After a year of let downs in the music industry, Ironiclast was a suprising finale to an otherwise weak music year.
On this record, if you are looking for a standout track, just hit random or shuffle and you'll find one.
Keith has come a long way from that hardcore show, and has slow moshed his way into a permanent spot in my cd player.

grade: A

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