Guess what? It’s DRINKSCUSSION TIME. We are quite literally a month behind on everything, so see us kicking some things out.
I thought that’s how musicdieshere time works
Bright side; fixing to be better at these than we were last year!
That’s cause we’ve been so busy booking shows as well. Good thing all the bands we really love are European. Can’t book those!
(Wait, that’s a lie. We can and we will. But not this one!)
Ha!
We’ve got some amazing American bands queued up for future Drinkscussions as, as well as an Open Tabs for a 2022 record we finally received a physical copy of. But not yet. For now, let’s actually listen to that new When the Walls Fell record – the band that doesn’t tour.
Right! Full plate, but we’ll whittle it down in due course…insofar as the list of ace stuff to drinkscuss ever ends
Build Back Better
Yep, no-bullshit open
It really doesn’t sound like a two piece that does everything remote. It feels like a complete band.
Had no idea they were a two piece til I saw some press. Impressive!
Super catchy singalong. Reminds me of the kind of bands I’d ended up seeing in punk squats.
Definitely hear that!
Full disclosure: have listened to this record roughly 5 times and this track keeps standing out as one of the strongest
Almost hearing some Against All Authority influences here.
the sort of chorus I’d see people humming along in their heads to well after the fact
I wonder how well British political punk would do in America.
Interested in that as well. Obvious overlap in some instances but not exactly hand in glove
Failed State
Political punk bands could all use a lesson in creative titles. How many times will I see a song called Failed State?
That much is its own drinking game
Drums here are sick btw
This is such a hard sound to do right. Either you get bands that are more poppy like Rise Against, or bands with horrible production on their recordings. It’s really rare to have this sound well done on a record.
They really got that down, this song cements that political punk sound done well.
Old Rise Against (circa the Unraveling, with better production) would be a decent frame of reference for people looking to pinpoint this sound imo
The Long Con
But yeah, I do feel production quality and aggression/crispness of this sound make this record quite unique
Don’t forget neither of us is too familiar with the old political punk bands. I’ve seen tons of bands with this sound, but put a gun to my head and ask me which, and I’ll immediately forget. I’ll probably mention a bunch of tiny bands from Belfast like United Bottles.
Definitely less well-versed in that arena than you, I’ll admit
It’s been a while, okay? I found a niche I like and I’m happy with it.
Snowball’s chance in hell of happening, but would be tremendous live
Kingdom Come
Rich man’s fever dream…as we touched on earlier, some shit’s simply universal
One thing that stands out to me is the guitar sound – and not always in a good way. But there’s a reason I never really got in metal. That’s really a personal preference
This song drags a bit more in general and that guitar stands out because of it.
I also bet you love it.
I like this song, but the first 3 tracks were straight fire.
Into the Tempest
Ooh soloing
interplay in vocals in this part, I dig it
Haha. It’s very obvious we both appreciate a lot of the same and a lot of different things in music.
I’m digging this track. Nice and straightforward and fast. Can’t go wrong with that.
The Economy is Suffering, Let it Die by When the Walls Fell.
You never really got into Anti-Flag have you?
I believe rolling stone calls those vox call and response 😅
Managed to miss on em (anti-flag)
It’ll always surprise me you did.
No one ever needs solos. I’m sorry musicians. No one. Ever. Needs. Those.
Haha, time and place!
That’s Alright
I’m sure this is all a reference I’m missing
This spoken word thing.
Wasn’t sure how I felt about this track in previous listens. Has intermission vibes
…eh, more the spoken word part I guess.
::just had to make sure this was same track::
I do love how they kick it into the real song, which is only like a third of the track. It works really well
Haha yea, when I’ve listened to this, I just assumed this was two songs oops
False Gods
I would’ve been so all over this when I was still a young activist who believed she could change the world by caring and protests
Musically I think this is the track closest to our niche
In a shared niche way
They could really benefit from some woahs.
Haven’t heard those yet!
IDK when last whoa-less record we heard was
Accidentally deleted your comment about this song being our common ground; meant to yeet something else
They took the woahs and replaced them with guitar solos. Damn capitalism ruining everything.
MOSH VIBES
Why are you deleting my stuff?
I meant to delete my USA flag emoji
Note: He only deleted it from his side. He did delete the American flag emoji.
Accident!
Americans are useless.
🇺🇲
Witches
Reallllllly liked this song
Ha. I was thinking I can’t place how I feel about it.
Yea, gang vox into fast part I dig.
It feels out of place compared to the rest of the record.
Feels like the tension is building up all thru this track to me
It may require a few more listens. I try to stick to one or two listens at most for records I want to add to Drinkscussions eventually.
Metal-ish vibes here. Could see the off-putting aspect
Not off-putting, just out of place.
I think the other songs are more straight forward aggressive
Yeah, same here…but think I lost track when we were supposed to drinkscuss this and kept jamming it every so often
Could see that. Has that drawn-out nature I gravitate to
One of the longer tracks on the record fwiw
I’m also more critical when I like the people in a band. Can’t just say how amazing they are – they’ll grow egos.
I’d like to think I’m consistent either way haha
I think I get how this is a track that can grow on you. If it wasn’t like 5 minutes, it may have been on me as well.
Oh I’m a consistent asshole.
Note: I’ve been made aware of the bass solo following the guitar solo. No wonder this track is almost five minutes. It’s solo’s.
No Gods, No Masters
As someone who hates solos, that intro was really good.
Liking the vocal switch here as well.
Added to the song without extraneousness
But this was one of the stand-out tracks to me in general.
Yeah this rips fierce
You don’t wanna stand against us
We don’t need you like you need us
(Nuclear) Winter of our Discontent
A+ title
Love this part where the dual vocals kick in; particularly the scream
This song closes the album with the same sound they opened it with. Feel they went a few places and then came back to it.
Interesting, didn’t think of it that way when I’ve gone thru the record. Specifically seems like an adept closer
to me*
Yeah, it really fits where it should fit.
FINAL BOSS ENERGY
HA. Pretty much. This outro totally would work for that.
💯
I can’t say enough good things about the production
Or how Spotify decided to move on to Samiam. Spotify gets it.
Me neither. That plus the quality of the tracks themselves made this record a very engaging listen.
It deserves some solid listens from me, undistracted from anything. It’ll happen!
Maybe one day politics make me angry again and I need a record like this.
Haha they don’t make you angry now?
I just avoid them now. I read up about it, sigh, and move on to catching up on emails. If there’s no emails, I’ll find a way to get emails I can use as an excuse.
Also fair, tbh. If politics can’t be crystallized into a meme for the lulz then 🤷🏾♂️
buuuut that’s just me.
Thing is, politics are usually a local affair. Americans don’t really get that experience to the same extent. You can learn a lot about the politics in a country, then move, be out of the loop and never hear about the things that seemed huge again.
When you experienced that a few times, it’s easy to just not get as angry all the time. Half the stuff people get mad about doesn’t matter. Half the stuff worth getting mad about isn’t talked about.
I’ve always believed that the things that should and does provoke the most outrage tend to be either buried or outright ignored.
Like guitar solos. No one is sufficiently outraged about those.
Probably power metal enthusiasts who pick apart each note and it’s sixteenths and thirtysecondths
Give the record a spin yourself: https://wtwfband.bandcamp.com/album/build-back-better
