THE LAWRENCE ARMS are releasing a new album after six years. It is the band's ninth album, which was formed in 1999 and has existed in its original lineup ever since.
To exist for 21 years in the same lineup is something not many bands achieve. This speaks to a strong bond and mutual respect. During this time, the trio has gotten to know each other extensively, experienced good times and certainly also bad times, and they have grown from it. This is how the band expresses itself, especially regarding their new record. According to their own statements, songwriting, musical development, and arrangement work have improved from album to album, and thus this album should have reached its preliminary peak.
THE LAWRENCE ARMS bring fourteen tracks into living rooms and headphones with “Skeleton Coast.” What do these fourteen songs have to offer?
THE LAWRENCE ARMS have always operated within the punk rock genre, but they have often and gladly stepped outside this genre to incorporate other styles into their music.
So it is with this album.
They are certainly connected to punk rock, but at the same time, they have outgrown it. The songs are more aligned with melodic rock musically, certainly with the foundation of punk rock, which is especially noticeable in the guitar, the vocals, and the timing. It can definitely get powerful, but never too much. They have placed themselves in the large niche of mass-compatible sound, whose roots are in the subculture, and they are aware of this, but they do not want to be constrained by subcultural pressures. Thus, all the songs are also made for larger venues, for festivals, and of course for radio.
The songs are connected with animal sounds, such as the howling of a wolf. This gives the album a somewhat mystical quality.
In the seventh song “(The) Demon,” things get unusually aggressive. Fast punk rock parts and an angry vocal performance. You really get startled while listening. Why do you get startled? The six songs before it are all catchy, but they don't really grab you. They just kind of flow and rock along; it's all nice, but not captivating.
Song number seven is indeed almost the exception when it comes to intensity and vocal harshness. Number nine “How to Rot” is worth mentioning in this regard as well, where the somewhat screechy voice carries you more than the musical intensity.
You could also call the whole thing soft-punk. There was a term for soft rock at some point, right?
In any case, the new album by THE LAWRENCE ARMS does not captivate me. They are good songs, both lyrically and musically, but it's nothing I would want to brag about. It's like a nice conversation with an old acquaintance you already like, but you wouldn't give them your last shirt.
