Time for another instalment of Track Of The Week, and this week I’m looking at a new release that if you’re a fan of the Ghostchant Facebook page (like it if you don’t) you’ll know how much I’ve been digging.
This week see’s the release of the new, and poorly advertised if I’m honest, Fall Out Boy EP titled ‘Pax-Am Days’. This release is getting a lot of talk (from the few that know about it) for two key things; one is that it’s produced by Ryan Adams and was recorded in his LA studio and is released under his label, ‘Pax Am’. The other is that it harkens way back to the days of hardcore punk music, something the band has lost focus of since their early releases.
The words “fast”, “loud” and “punk” are words that have been words lost to Fall Out Boy fans for years, hell it might be a stretch to say that the band has NEVER recorded anything this brutal or hardcore ever. Now, I know I said “brutal” and obviously they haven’t totally changed into some metalcore/deathcore band with this release, no this still has the classic Fall Out Boy charm and flourish, only difference is that its faster, louder and yes, more punk.
The track “We Were Doomed From The Start (The King Is Dead)” is what I’d say is the stand-out track, maybe add “Love, Sex, Death” in there too, but the rest do however seem to sound like filler; not to say they’re bad, but just seem to work and be there as opposed to doing anything major for the album.
This track is fast, clocking in at just over 90 seconds, and 15 of those are a voice-over sample at the start! The pace is so rapid, after the opening sample the bass instantly starts chugging the classic punk 3-chord and doesn’t stop. Its loud too, the guitars aren’t complicated, it’s a simple sounding thrash of those punk chords again and Stump’s vocals blister the sonics trying to keep up with the frantic guitar, bass and drum smashing.
The vocals of the song are VERY minimal, with only a few lines alternating away from the shrieks of “The King is dead!” . One thing that really stands-out too about the song is that even with this insane bass line throughout and the rest of the punk-sounding instruments is that they don’t really sound punk, if that makes any sense. This kinda goes for the entire album, but the entire thing still sounds punk-pop somehow, I mean they have the hardcore sound, it’s totally punk but in a polished, more commercial sense. No hate from me, I guess when you’re a massive band like Fall Out Boy you can never really do “DIY punk”, can you, it’ll always have this sense of polish and style to it.
The best part about this entire track, for me at least, has to be the bass line that Wentz pumps out and keeps in the forefront of the entire song; this is in no way surprising, Wentz I think has always been a hardcore (even metalcore) guy at heart, go listen to his early work, especially the band Arma Angelus. Like I said, the instrumentals seem to almost be impersonating those of a hardcore punk band, but still they do have the sound and substance to there, they clearly know what they’re doing and HOW to do it. This does fall-over to the vocals of Stump too, though he doesn’t like a Rollins, a MacKaye or a HR, his voice still sounds like it’s always done, but it suits the music; like everything about this track (and EP) it makes sense.
In the end of it all, this is a release that sounds enough like Fall Out Boy to keep their current fan-base interested and excited, yet is different enough that it entices and brings in people that have fallen out of the whole Fall Out Boy thing.
It has the hardcore elements and punkness to it that it’s hard and loud but it’s got the polish and style to keep it in the realm of what is acceptable for the band’s sound. The whole EP is a work of art, and that’s coming from someone that really did hate ‘Save Rock N’ Roll’, but somehow the band has rectified this and made a hell of a go at taking a different route, even if it’s just with this one release. And that’s the thing, I’m in no way expecting to hear this become the “new” Fall Out Boy sound; I’m not gonna go into the next album expecting an OFF!-like album full of 60 second songs. No, I see this as just a fun little release by a bunch of guys that maybe wanted to release a record that showcased this fun; what would be nice is that the band take some aspects of ‘Pax-Am Days’ and try to apply it to future releases, not to change their sound but just experiment.
There is a place for hardcore music in today’s world, if nothing more this track and release proves this to be fact.
“We Were Doomed From The Start (The King Is Dead)” is available at the link below from iTunes, however as always you can get the track at pretty much anywhere that sells anything. There will actually be a limited vinyl release of the entire album at some point too (sorry, not too sure when).
If anyone is interested in taking the reigns for next week or any week, hit me up on the Facebook page.
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