I'll be the first to admit that I bought The Boxer Rebellion's new CD, Union, on Itunes mostly because it was $5.99, but it did help that all the reviews were really positive about the album. Prior to buying, I listened to the first single released, Evacuate, and this helped to secure my decision to buy the album.
So what do I think of it, well let me modify a quote from the movie Bolt by saying, Union is awesome….Union is soooo awesome…Union is beyond awesome….Union is B-Awesome!!! (By the way, you know you are a 28 year old parent when you are quoting from kids movies.) Yes friends, this is one of the best albums I have purchased over the past couple of years…hands down. For $5.99 I wasn't expecting much (click here to see why the album is sold at $5.99), but what I got was a masterpiece. Yes there are definitely some flaws in certain tracks and certain tracks that are not anything to jump for joy over, but overall this is a GREAT album.
As for specific tracks, the album starts off with not just 3 or 4 great tracks; the first 6 tracks are really solid. With track 4, "Soviets," being the big standout in my mind, the other 5 tracks (including the first single, track 3 "Evacuate") are not that far behind. "Soviets" is one of those tracks that I could set Itunes on repeat for 100 listens and still not be tired of it…it's that good. Out of the 11 tracks there are just 2 that miss the mark, track 7 "The Gospel of Goro Adachi" (a little too Radioheady for me) and Track 9 "Forces" (something just not right about this), these two just don't seem to flow as well as the other tracks. They aren't bad songs; they just don't have the feel of this album. Many of the tracks including "Soviets," "Splitting Fire," "Semi Automatic" and "Silent Move" build up into climatic masterpieces, which adds to the greatness of the album.
Being that this is a band that not many people have heard of, I guess I feel obliged to compare them to a popular band. I think I would say they are a cross between U2 (the Joshua Tree Days) and Radiohead (the good, not so weird Radiohead). What else can I say, the album is not perfect, but it is definitely the best in the past 2 or so years…4.5 out of 5 gerkens pickles.
So what do I think of it, well let me modify a quote from the movie Bolt by saying, Union is awesome….Union is soooo awesome…Union is beyond awesome….Union is B-Awesome!!! (By the way, you know you are a 28 year old parent when you are quoting from kids movies.) Yes friends, this is one of the best albums I have purchased over the past couple of years…hands down. For $5.99 I wasn't expecting much (click here to see why the album is sold at $5.99), but what I got was a masterpiece. Yes there are definitely some flaws in certain tracks and certain tracks that are not anything to jump for joy over, but overall this is a GREAT album.
As for specific tracks, the album starts off with not just 3 or 4 great tracks; the first 6 tracks are really solid. With track 4, "Soviets," being the big standout in my mind, the other 5 tracks (including the first single, track 3 "Evacuate") are not that far behind. "Soviets" is one of those tracks that I could set Itunes on repeat for 100 listens and still not be tired of it…it's that good. Out of the 11 tracks there are just 2 that miss the mark, track 7 "The Gospel of Goro Adachi" (a little too Radioheady for me) and Track 9 "Forces" (something just not right about this), these two just don't seem to flow as well as the other tracks. They aren't bad songs; they just don't have the feel of this album. Many of the tracks including "Soviets," "Splitting Fire," "Semi Automatic" and "Silent Move" build up into climatic masterpieces, which adds to the greatness of the album.
Being that this is a band that not many people have heard of, I guess I feel obliged to compare them to a popular band. I think I would say they are a cross between U2 (the Joshua Tree Days) and Radiohead (the good, not so weird Radiohead). What else can I say, the album is not perfect, but it is definitely the best in the past 2 or so years…4.5 out of 5 gerkens pickles.
As a note aside from the CD (some history here), the Boxer Rebellion was a violent anti-foreign, anti-religious movement in China by the "Righteous Harmonious Fists" between 1898 and 1901. They were responding to the growing influence of capitalism, imperialistic influences and missionaries in China and how they felt that these influences were not good for China. Anyway, the rebellion ended, but not after many deaths in China. Not sure if the Band named themselves after this, but I would imagine it definitely had some influences.
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