The Blamed are back with their first full album in 17 years. The biggest question most people will have is what style will this be? Skate punk? Hardcore punk? Emo? The Blamed has moved through a wide range of styles. While I would say this emo-leaning hardcore punk, you still feel many of their other influences throughout the disc. Shouted gang vocals, angular break downs, metal pounding, punk attitude, and many other styles are thrown in the mix. But don’t think this is a disjointed album – they manage to mix everything well enough to keep it a cohesive whole. The title of the album has you wondering if they are going to take a hard-hitting look at the problems within the church that many turn a blind eye to. The first spoken word track gets into some both-side-ism that doesn’t really examine the very real power inequalities in our world today. It’s great to say we are all the same, but it doesn’t help to not acknowledge that different sides on various issues exist because of power dynamics. I can’t find a copy of the lyrics, so I don’t know which way they go. Hopefully they eschew the both side-ism that has generally protected the Church from any real critical examination. But no matter what the lyrics say, the music is a killer return to form of The Blamed. I can’t wait for my vinyl copy to arrive!
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