Don’t you love when new punk music doesn’t fucking suck? Yeah? Me too.
The Flatliners’ sound is a beautiful Frankenstein creation of every aspect of punk music that I really can’t classify, yet over the course of The Flatliners’ Cavalcade, you’ll hear influences from nearly every punk band that mattered, from the birth of the genre to the present day. The production quality is nice for a punk band, clear and concise, but is in no way over-produced. Instrumentally, this band knows what the hell they are doing, while vocalist Chris Cresswell has a raspy voice that doesn’t turn you away, presenting heartfelt lyrics that might actually mean something. At the end of the track “Bleed,” Chris sings: “I wrote this for my brother, I didn’t mean to become a stranger/and this is for my mother/how I could I ever turn and leave this place/now listen father, I need to tell you/all I’ve learned from you is written on my face/as I travel round the world in disgrace/does the telephone ring?”
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Just as the song begins to fade out sonically and the listener is left feeling catch you off guard by the lyrics, the feedback of the guitars rise and blow up into the next song, “Here Comes the Treble.” The album is detailed, exploreable, and a huge mass of everything to be reckoned with — it is not simply 12 songs mashed together, but a cohesive being that comes to life in your stereo. The album passes through a range of emotions, and none of it sounds forced or unnatural.
Any fan of punk music is clearly in the dark if they have not heard of this band or gotten this album, and is clearly missing out.
(Fat Wreck Chords, 444 Townsend St. #2 , San Francisco, CA 94107)