enterthegrayarea the life of a guy, in indiana.

The Blood Brothers

About a year or so ago, my friend Phil let me listen to a band called the Blood Brothers. Originally, I didn't like the sound. I thought it was underproduced trash that gave me a headache. We were in a car and it was going through an FM tuner, plus I was unhappy. I made him turn the music off and put on something else. I now regret that. A few days later, my extreme boredom caused me to download a few mp3s of their CD "Burn Piano Island, Burn." Listening to them now, in a better mood, with better sound quality was amazing. It was completely spastic, post-punk (and post-hardcore, I guess) madness. Jeph Jaques put it best in my opinion: "Throw William S. Burroughs into a blender with an enraged wolverine and this is what it would sound like." I took this taste of the Blood Brothers pie and I ate the whole goddamned thing. I went out and bought "Burn Piano Island, Burn" on vinyl (clear vinyl record == super fucking cool) and a copy of "Crimes" on CD for my girlfriend, Kate. "Crimes" is a Indie-urr version of their previous work, "Burn Piano Island, Burn." It opens up to me on the second track with a song that I truly love, Trash Flavored Trash, a fast falling bombshell that explodes right in your fucking face. You cool off with the funky single Love Rhymes With Hideous Car Wreck that starts off quirky and fun and ends up ripping the already-burnt skin right off your face. These two songs are the foundation of this whole record, which I give 3.5/5 wrist cutting scene kids.

My favorite Blood Brothers album is hands down "Burn Piano Island, Burn." This hopped up on Ritalin, completely deranged album is totally and unapologetically in your face. They (the band) want us to understand their too-complex to be punk and too hardcore to be emo music. Some songs are a bit sketchy, for example Every Breath Is a Bomb, which is, imagine if you will, No Doubt on a bad acid trip. Backed with a swinging, reggae-backed beat, its just disconcerting that I'm imagining Gwen Stefani's face bubbling up and melting off. The only drawback to this record is that its really hard to do much more. Between singers Johnny Whitney and Jordan Blilie exchanging jagged, wild-animal screams and is complex swirling guitars and bass, there isnt much else to be done. Its a complete and all around good record. I love it and give it 4.5 / 5 bleeding emo wrists.