United Nations
United Nations (2008)
Here's the band bio; Geoff Rickly (Thursday), allegedly Glassjaw's Daryl Palumbo & Ben Koller courtesy of Converge (the allegedly is down to contracts and legal blahblah), plus other folk from bands you may have heard of, that I haven't. Put together for the intention of getting across their political point of view, pretty much by way of poking fun at everyone. Obviously there's more to it, but I'm not sure it's totally relevent to the music (to me anyway), so i'm not going to go through it. You know where Wikipedia is.
The album was released a couple of years ago , but I've only just discovered it, and I really think it's still incredibly relevent, not in the least due to the ten year anniversary of it's clear spiritual predecessor.
Refused's "The Shape Of Punk To come" is one of my favourite things in world. So finding this United Nations stuff made me REALLY giddy, as it's pretty much a continuation of what they were creating; both in the direction the music takes, and the ideals behind the lyrics and the art, the music... Everything, really.
AS far as I can tell, the album, and the project as a whole, is consciously channelling the Swede's final album, although I'm still not totally settled in what way, exactly.
The music and lyrical similarities are undeniable; a clear effort to keep up what was offered a decade ago. But, there's a bitterness sewn through, too. Track four, 'The Shape Of Punk That Never Came', comes through gritted teeth and a heavy heartbeat, with the refrain "Denis, are you listening? Is there something that i'm missing?". Maybe it's an sarcastic dig, maybe it's a sincere question, but It's clear that Rickly's angry about something; angry, maybe, that of all the promises that rode on the back of Denis Nixzen's troup, no one bothered to follow through after they split up, least of all the members of the band (I know Nixzen did INC, but, as good as they might be, they just seem like an exercise in laziness from a possible genius). Hearing this song for the first time really affected me because I know how dearly some people hold Refused, and I can only imagine the disappointment that would follow, had you pinned everything you hoped would happen in music on them, just for them to split up and give up on the message they got across so vividly.
The politics, the drive and the eagerness for music to change things never happened, and the hoped for musical evolution has taken so long that an album ten years old still sounds brand new. This is something that clearly grinds, and it's a sentiment sprayed all over UN's first release, be it lyrics, structure or the saxaphone solo that closes the album.
Although I can dig Thursday, and I'm a big fan of Converge, I could never really get into Glassjaw (although I was pretty into the early Head Automatica stuff ['cause of chicks n' that]), and this UN stuff feels like the Thursday & Glassjaw that everyone always told me were awesome, and I just never got. I really like Rickly's Vocals, always have, and again to compare to Refused, I do think they're very similar, and always have. There's all the time-signature and brutal wankery from Glassjaw that I could never get into, but paired with the calmer, more post-hardcore influence the Thursday frontman brings, it blends well, and to me, sounds like the better touches hinted at from Thursdays last album 'Common Existence' (a strong album, just filled with too many "almost awesome" moments).
Essentially, though, there's one similarity and one difference between the two; Quality is the most important thing they share. This is a seriously good album; production, songwriting, heavyness and melodies are all near-perfect examples of what hardcore & post-hardcore can achieve. At no point does this album stop being really fucking good. The only real difference between the two is humour, where Refused's album had none (that I could see, anyway), these guys have plenty; Press photo's with everyone wearing Reagan masks; band & label claiming not to know of the actual United Nations; and having an album cover that features the Beatles crossing the road while on fire.
I think I've finally found where hardcore should be going.
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