Review Summary: A Sputnik band that never got the Sputnik treatment, what a shame.
Every so often, we dedicated music fans have Christmas sneak up a little early. This farce I speak of is when we obtain a band that is virtually unknown yet they are worth every minute of our time. This moment struck me when I stumbled upon Colour Revolt's mere two releases some time last year. I still to this day scratch my head as to why these guys didn't catch fire. I figured even this website would serve them some recognition they deserve, but lone behold this excellent record sits review less.
Colour Revolt's an indie band that hails from Mississippi. Although the term 'indie' is used quite loosely as these guys have more in common with Brand New and mewithoutYou than say, Arcade Fire. This is an album brimming with rage, yet hope is very evident as well unlike a lot of their contemporaries. "Moses Of The South" is a gorgeous song that could bring a smile to an atheist's face (okay, a stretch, you get the point). Most of the riffs on this album are tuned low, with heavy distortion usually proceeding. Another very odd thing I find about them is their odd drumming. Len Clark is the drummer and an obscure one at that. He never truly establishes a normal time signature in verses because he does not wholly rely on his snare drum and ride cymbal, more akin to a Danny Carey style, just not as complex.
That all having been said, the true genius in this band lies in Jesse Coppenbarger, the estranged lead singer. He has a bit of a southern drawl, yet lazily, but very melodically delivers his lyrics very much in the vein of Jesse Lacey for all you Brand New kids out there. His lyrics also show similar dynamics to a lot the bands in this genre, Lacey, Weiss, Kensrue, often revolving around religion but never coming close to resembling preaching. Take the angry chorus of the opening track for example, "here goes adam with the devil's head/his body's all naked and red/well we're all naked now in our heads/but i know who made my bed" and he later goes on to discuss how "Eden is a hell of a place". It's subtle qualms like this that hint towards religion, but that's usually the full extent they go to.
On this album as opposed to their excellent debut EP, we find Coppenbarger's scream to be toned way down, which is unfortunate considering he has such a powerful, convincing scream, (more of a shrouded yell even.) The places it does crop up on the album though make it worth the price of admission alone. We are greeted with it early on, as "Naked & Red" has a bridge that would make some metal fans proud with Jesse frightfully screaming "Talk! Talk! Talk! Talk your devils down! Burn! Burn! Burn! Burn your witches out!" over and over again, painted beautifully over distortion drenched guitars. Coppenbarger's vocal melodies are just about my favorite part about the record though, as each song has insanely memorable verses as well as choruses. The only problem the album ever faces is around the second half, as a few songs, all great nonetheless, begin to sound the same ("Swamp" and "Shovel To Ground"). The biggest highlights on the album that do earn recognition though are "Elegant View" and "Innocent & All". The former being a slow burning, heart wrenching post-grunge epic, with the second almost having a southern blues meets soul vibe to it. "Elegant View" feels like a song that should be playing when one makes their trek across a ridiculously hot desert, with it's dark almost western sounding, slow riffs, while "Innocent & All" would represent the moment when you finally make it to safety.
That's the power that Colour Revolt possesses. They can make a song that is entirely dark and depressing, and immediately follow it up with a song that somehow brings the sun back over the horizon. They're never cheesy, and they are incredible songwriters. I highly recommend this along with their self-titled EP and hope that this band doesn't break up.
