Glassjaw
Our Color Green (The Singles)
Self-Released
So most of these tracks have been unveiled under some guise or another already. Generous free downloads and innovative pizza-accompanied 7″s (available exclusively at a Long Island pizzeria and only announced on the day of release) show that the fairly recently reunited band are certainly determined to have fun with their craft these days. Despite playing shows again for a couple of years now, this release comprises the band’s first new recorded material in almost a decade. That’s a long time to keep your uber-fans guessing, especially whilst hinting at a third album constantly.
‘Our Color Green‘ may not be the full-length many people were waiting on tenterhooks for but the sheer quality and immense weight of every track on this release makes up for its brevity. Five tracks is just enough to sate the Glassjaw appetite until they decide to step it up a notch and finally get round to that long fabled album. It’ a cathartic onslaught from the outset with the grating guitars and spitting lyrics barely letting up throughout. For the most part, the brutality almost overrides the melody. But not quite. There is something about the way Glassjaw layer surges of sound that means an undercurrent of melodic content is always present. The riffs, no matter how heavy, carry an enormous amount of the melody as vocalist Daryl Palumbo shifts from empassioned singing to voracious catterwauling. Dynamics are paced expertly with oases of calm interspersed amongst the violence. You Think You’re (Fucking John Lennon) begins with a very steady yet unsettling drumbeat which makes up the entire first 90 seconds of the song completely on its own before the full band let rip with their usual finesse.
Winey Joe
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