Four EPs in, it's about time Georgian hardcore outfit Campaign showed some artistic growth. Granted, the changes to their formula are minimal (We're talking more guitar solos and/or noise bits), but still welcome nonetheless. Having pretty much claimed dibs on melodic hardcore, The Black Albumfinds Campaign working in little flourishes along the way. It ain't exactly New Lexicon, but I'll take it.
Still, The Black Album generally sticks to the band's strengths: super fast, super catchy hardcore packed with whoas as far the ear can hear. The first three tracks illustrate why the young people of America still need to heed the lessons Lifetime and Avail taught us. These tunes are so effortless, so fun, that it's almost surprising to hear a longer song close out the set.
That song is "Out of Control," a more rock-oriented number with an intro that actually runs longer than 10 seconds (audible gasp!). While opener "Breaking Bones" packs in some guitar solo action, hinting at the rockitude scheduled to occur, "Out of Control" almost feels like a different band. It's a little slower, a little heavier. And it works. Either way, listeners get gruff, beardy punk rockin' of the highest caliber. While Campaign's output continues to shoot for 10-minute bursts instead of full-length territory, The Black Album proves that sometimes brevity is better.
I’ve been listening ‘the Black Album’ for a while now through Spotify. But now that I took the time to write a review about this EP I discovered that the original Black Album differs from the one that is on Spotify. With the artwork being the most notable difference (duh) I cannot qualify one as better or cooler than the other. But when it comes to the music there sure is a difference.
Review Via SWNK
I’ve been listening to a version which has five songs on it being all good songs but I couldn’t make it to the end of the EP. It wasn’t one piece. Just five good, catchy songs.
But after a first spin of the ‘correct’ version it immediately felt as one unity, one short melodic hardcore trip. Just the slightest change made it a perfect total. Now I can’t put on this record without listening through the whole thing. Which obviously is a good sign.
The opening of ‘the Black Album’ reminds me of Paint it Black’s ‘New Lexicon’. Which is not a totally weird comparison. Though when the vocals come through they’re more like the Bronx, but a far less aggressive Dan Yemin could (I said COULD!) be heard. Melody reaches its tops at the short but tight guitar solo and hooks during the first two songs and especially at the climax of ‘Slums’. That last bit is a delight for the ears! This Bronx thing gets bigger at the last song. ‘Out of Control’ has a less complex sound which the Bronx frequently carries.
The EP lays somewhere between the Bronx in their faster moments and a bit earlier and tougher Off With Their Heads. As a fan of melodic hardcore you can blindly get this record and you’ll be singing along in no time. But at this moment Campaign still did not release a full length, which is not a bad thing cause these short EP’s can always do it for me. But I did get curious if they can maintain my attention on a full length, and with this a headlining gig! I do hope so!
Review Via Latest Disgrace
While Campaign’s last EP, Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice!, found the band refining their melodic hardcore punk with more compact and streamlined songwriting, the band’s latest effort, the five-song The Black Album, sees them taking a diametrical approach with songs that sound more raw, abrasive and unhinged. Case in point is the ferocious opener, “Breaking Bones,” a blistering four-on-the-floor rager that’s fast, noisy and replete with hardcore attitude. Stylistically it’s not far removed from the No Idea-style punk that the band has been churning out consistently since their inception, but the band has ratcheted up the aggression and agitation and the result is a sound that is more blunt and forceful than anything the band has done before. This is the kind of music that I buried myself in back in high school, but nothing here feels dated; there’s no sense of lingering nostalgia. This is fist-pumping punk played with snarling passion and hostile irreverence, and, for me, that will never get old.
Review Via Space City Rock
CAMPAIGN is a kick in the teeth. CAMPAIGN is about being over your head in debt, having to work a job that you hate just to put food on the table for an ungrateful wife and kids. CAMPAIGN is the face of the working class who are tired of being seen as working class and wish to rise up to something greater.
Through these five songs, CAMPAIGN manages to craft a sound that most easily reminds me of Hot Water Music, but has other influences in it, as well, such as bands like Trial by Fire, for instance. They don’t have your typical punk rock sound to them — though they do play fast-paced songs — but the songs do usually come in under two minutes. For the five songs that total this EP, they clock in at just over eleven minutes, so you can do the math there. (Added variable: one of the songs is only 59 seconds!)
On a song like “Slums,” you can really hear the Hot Water Music coming through. At times this becomes a bit of a burden for the band. They’re going to be compared to HWM — and rightfully so — to the point where they might easily be written off by many people as just being a band that sounds like another band.
The fact is, I believe CAMPAIGN may have something more to offer this musical world of ours than just being Hot Water Music Jr. I believe that these five songs are a basis for that very idea. If you listen to them, yes, you will hear Hot Water Music coming through in a very large way, but you will also hear a sound that CAMPAIGN is crafting to call their own. Hopefully CAMPAIGN can create a full-length album after this that will provide more of their own sound.
Review Via Rock Freaks
Roared, halfway gravelly vocals, a Midwestern-style punk rock sound that draws equally much from Dillinger Four as it does from Hot Water Music and Small Brown Bike. Sounds familiar? There's a ton of small bands in the US doing this sound now, which is probably why Campaign have decided to alter their sound somewhat for their latest EP, "The Black Album". Here, they bring in elements of rock'n'roll, 'bar fights' (as their promotional material puts it), and also hardcore to spice up their expression.
Opener "Breaking Bones" is much heavier and more aggressive than we're used to hearing from the band in the past, on either "Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice!" or "It Likes To Party" EPs, which were basically Hot Water Music emulation from start to finish. They were good, though, which is why it is surprising to come into a conclusion that aside from the excellent "Slums" that is immediately catchy, this EP is plagued by too much experimentation. It results into a sound that is all over the place and too chaotic for its own good, exploring the outer realms of the punk rock landscape they originally started with. The raw shouts, the melodic hardcore oriented guitars, and the generally heavier sound simply doesn't suit Campaign as much as the gravelly punk rock they excelled in on previous records.
Where in the past the band's soundscape was driven by a warm, melodic sound characterized by one of the greatest sets of melodic, yet roughened pipes you'll hear in modern punk rock outside a Nothington release, "The Black Album" EP features none of that beloved expression, with songs that are nowhere near as catchy, and suffer from the heavier, noisier, and more buzzed-out sound. This is simply an experiment gone wrong in this scribe's opinion.
It’s been a while since I heard their last release, but if memory serves, this is a decided step forward from its predecessor. While things are still very much in the modern raspy (in this case also off-key) indie pop punk vein that’s apparently all the rage, the gems can be found in the outside-the-box thinkin’ of the guys strumming and banging. Of particular note is the guitarist, who often sounds like he’s cribbing influences from Joy Division and other post-punk sources rather than the usual batch of string-slingin’ heroes. As a result, the vocals, which would normally be the kiss of death as-is, actually somehow work within the context of the songs. –Jimmy Alvarado