The Blamed

Item: Germany
Author: Earl Campbell

Germany

(2000)

Reviewed by Earl Campbell

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Label Grrr RecordsBandoppler2000

post-hardcore punk

Here's the rub, kids. You can only call yourself post-something if you have been that something long enough to know how to go beyond it. So, if The Blamed say they are post-hardcore it's probably acceptable. Defining how something is post-something – in this case post-hardcore – however, is another rub in itself. And basically this new rub falls on our shoulders, a challenge if you will, issued by the band labeling themselves as such – daring us to know what the crap we're talking about enough to call them on their bluff; or to nod our heads like children just told not to touch the new VCR while our parents go to the store.

On aesthetics of the visual kind, Germany digs for an arty, midwest metropolis library rat vibe – scrunching its makers together on a rooftop, letter-boxing their 'rule of thirds' Euro posture, and highlighting must-see backpack tour destinations on its opening. On aesthetics of the sonic kind, which are supposedly the more important factor – although delightfully the two aesthetics are well coordinated – The Blamed shadow punch through six and a half songs of organic brown egg chilly punk rock.

Creative? Yes. Mood intensive? Oh yeah. Mood is what this EP is all about. Powerful? Good question. Yes, these songs are powerful, but, as their post-hardcore tag might imply to you, they are not of the snot-nosed radical energy. These songs are what you might call of the rainy day rebellion – gray, morose, yet still pretty fired up about something, even if that something is hard to see through the fog of feeling weird and depressed for no particular reason. In fact, come with me out on a limb, kids – this is probably going to be one of the most underrated albums of the year, because the beauty of this project is that it is so ugly and so damn subtle.

Scratchy gang vocals, punk and subdued metal riffs, gothic structures, superficial cliches and bravado: Germany will not impress you right away. It wasn't until about the eighth listen that I noticed what was going on here. The Blamed call these songs post-hardcore because they are rooted in the base elements of the scene, but don't quite fit into it. Why? Well, because there is this other layer coating them; that whole gray mood, old army jacket, vagrant-staring-at-you thing. It's eerie. Real eerie. And not at all explainable. Maybe it's the cryptic lyrics in "Wounded / Overwhelmed" or the brilliant tempo and tone manipulation in "Running Away can be an Ugly Thing." Maybe it's just as simple as a bunch of JPUSA guys mirroring the entropic, drab, mysteriously technicolor mundane surrounding them every day in downtown Chicago. Or perhaps it's just because The Blamed know something we don't and that in itself incites a cold paranoia.

Whatever it is, and whether you appreciate current or past hardcore punk rock or not, you will probably find some intriguing, maybe even down-right-enthralling chills in Germany, if you listen to it long enough to feel it. Don't expect the Blamed of past, though. This is a POST project after all, and for once what is usually a pretentious, overly ambitious tag fits perfectly.