Review Summary: Keep your eye out for the real thing, it's all just money, money.
After a six year break since the raging and shredding
Career Suicide, four since a slightly less than convincing self-titled EP, one would assume that New Bedford, Massachusetts' finest may have been slacking in the new material department when progressing towards 2013. However, just as many thought that a commercially-tainted succession to 2005's
Ruiner was in store, an album with several tracks that may have suggested such a progression, the assumption of a loss of songwriting prowess and just plain, good old musical talent couldn't be further from the truth. Instead, what A Wilhelm Scream creates with
Partycrasher is a carefully crafted oath to their previous full lengths, while maintaining that cutting edge that keeps them ahead of a legion of other melodic punk bands in the city that they built (with debts and booze).
The aforementioned musical talent is something that the members of A Wilhelm Scream seem to have been born with, as if they were practicing since age two. The duo of stalwart guitarist Trevor Reilly and wicked minion Mike Supina continue to steal the show with their impressive fretboard finesse, releasing a variable torrent of scathing, metal-inspired, catchy licks and incredibly precise leads and solos (see "Ice Man Left a Trail" and the venerable beast that is the closer "Born a Wise Man"). When combined with the magician on bass that is Brian Robinson, who despite not receiving quite as much of the spotlight as on
Career Suicide, still manages to deliver his share of flashy, deviant undertones and furious but coordinated kit work from Nick Angelini, the instrumental core of
Partycrasher remains as tight as the cables in an aircraft carrier's arresting gears.
Nuno Pereira delivers another performance worthy of remembrance spitting his clever, fame-retardant, blue-collar lyrics that have become a trademark of the band's sound. The tri-vocal attacks (support from Robinson and Reilly) that have also become a customary exercise in A Wilhelm Scream's discography are also present, even delivering a few explosive, abrasive screams ("Hairy Scarecrow") that may surprise and are likely more aggressive than anything vocally on
Career Suicide. However, ultimately it's the hardworking passion of the band, who produced the record themselves and then shipped it to the fine folks at The Blasting Room to master it and ensure the production mishap that was the self-titled EP never happens again, that ends up tying everything together in a quick-hitting and memorable package of roughly thirty-five minutes.
Despite not having quite the intimidating presence or "wow factor" that
Career Suicide lead with, this record is a testament to A Wilhelm Scream's durability and consistency that has yet to see an album that could scarcely be called "average" in their discography.
Partycrasher is yet another affirmation that the band are the cream of the crop when it comes to modern punk rock and are here to stay as long as their fingers don't grind down into a pulp from the relentless abuse. So, go and take a walk with Michael Douglas, become a wise man and for the love of all things enjoyable get mad you son of a bitch! A Wilhelm Scream is f*cking here.
