[Reviews] Bayside - Shudder VS I Am Ghost - Those We Leave Behind

Posted by pixie | Filed under Uncategorized

Why am I juxtaposing the reviews of these two extremely different albums? Because they are my two most-awaited albums of 2008, and are in a dead heat for my favorite album of the year.  The problem is, they’re both just so different, it’s hard for me — loving them both — to say which is actually better.

Let’s start with  Bayside’s Shudder.  Released just a year and a half after the phenomenal The Walking Wounded, the album is, on first listen, not quite what one would expect. It’s clearly a Bayside album, but there’s almost something muted to the whole thing. And then you listen again, and again, and again. As Anthony Ranieri’s lyrics drill holes into your head and you start to wonder how it is he’s picking pieces of your gray matter or grabbing chunks of your heart off the floor and twisting them into lyrics that say it all so well, the album transcends the first listen.

The opening song, “Boy,” is a perfect illustration of what Bayside does best: it’s a sing-along, punk rock sing-song about some of the most depressing moments in ones life. But much like many of us who suffer the hard times, there’s this ever-present, persistently nagging optimistic streak that runs through every song.  It’s largely subtextual, but much like its predecessor, Shudder is an album of surviving, whether or not you necessarily want to.  There’s a reason why this band is so popular and respected, and it absolutely lies in the lyrical genius.  Anthony Ranieri and Max Bemis should never be allowed near each other — I am pretty sure it would open up a wormhole that would suck the universe as we know it inside. Then again, would that be such a bad thing? I’m not sure the person who wrote “Boy,” “I Can’t Go On,” and “No One Understands” would say so. Aside from that optimism….

Bayside are a band that understand what they do well, and while they have not stagnated in any way, shape, or form, they also haven’t taken any wild risks and released an album that made their fans say, “what the hell is this?”  This is a good thing, mind you. Taking cues from Alkaline Trio, they play to their own strengths — lyrics, the way Anthony sings, and chord progressions that just sort of make your heart soar — rather than trying to re-invent the wheel with every album the release. On Shudder, the results are gorgeous.

Meanwhile, I Am Ghost stand in stark contrast on Those We Leave Behind. The band has only two of its original members, and a completely new attitude on this album. The strengths lie in the new members, though, particularly bassist/screamer from hell, Ronnie.  When I saw him play with them last year, I felt like he completed the band — and was far better than Kerith, who always sort of annoyed me.

Which brings me to my one issue with this album: I would pay very good money for a remastered version of the album that cuts out the female vocal tracks. 90% of the time, they feel out-of-place, and the chick’s voice is even more grating than Kerith’s was on their older songs. I don’t understand why Steve seems afraid to sing without a woman behind him — but when he does, and lets Ronnie back him up with screams [this is wildly evident on the first single, “Bone Garden,”] the band thrives.

I suspect this is what we’ll hear live. I won’t know, since the band is releasing the album and then skipping off to Europe for a month, but since there is no female member of the band, I can’t imagine they’ll be bringing the band’s personal ghost — the female vocalist — with them.  In a sense, I can’t blame them for making the decision to stick with the quasi-familiar. On many of the songs, the band has turned up the tempo and the guitars to an almost metal feel — which strengthens them in a million ways. It feels like they left the male-female dynamic because it was staying in a “comfort zone,” rather than just fully breaking free and being the band I saw live a year ago.

That said, the lyrics are amazing — lots of gothic depth, which is something we have come to expect from I Am Ghost. The album absolutely cuts to the heart of things, but using detours and imagery, rather than just flat-out saying it all the time, the way Bayside did. Then again,  you take a song like “Bone Garden,” where Ron just screams “you said you loved me, but you dont!” and you have the simple message of rage and anger at a former love.

The two albums are my favorites of 2008, still duking it out in my mind for #1. The two are so very different — even where they cross paths on things like theme, you find them handling it in different ways.  I recommend them both to fans and non-fans alike, as they’re both excellent starting points for each band, even if you have never heard them before.