I am a few months late on this album review, but it must be said.
This is one of the worst albums I have listened to in the last couple of years. I hate to be negative about other peoples’ art, and at one time I was a big Against Me! fan, but…really Tom Gabel?
I feel I do need to justify my distaste for this record by saying that I truly respect and enjoy bands that switch up their sound for different albums. To me those brave musicians (who risk not-so-loyal fanbases by doing something new) are true artists. Against Me! is not one of those bands.
My biggest problem with this album was that I think that certain subject matter is better covered by certain vocal styles. Cheesy pop gang vocals about being a teenaged anarchist doesn’t really work. Piano heavy songs like “We’re Breaking Up” and “Because of the Shame” don’t fit either the album or anything Against Me! has done before. Lyrically and aesthetically, White Crosses’s bounces inexplicably between sounding like a teenaged scene kid’s diary, and an older, almost 80′s hairband revival. At points, it sounds like the band was going for a sound almost like The Gaslight Anthem, but can’t pull it off. ”High Pressure Low” sounds like an East Coast gutter punk b-side. ”Rapid Decompression” is the only song that I could see the old Against Me! having on an album, and even then, it doesn’t have any grit or bite that I loved Against Me! for.
I listened to the album over again after I cleared my mind. I tried to convince myself that White Crosses wasn’t an Against Me! album, but an album from a band I had never heard before. It was still flat, disjointed, and a bit ridiculous. At the expensive of sounding like one of those pretentious punk fans, Against Me! sold out. The new label, sound, producer, etc. just is not working for them.
