Off With Their Heads “Home” Album Review
Off With Their Heads
“Home”
Epitaph Records
Off With Their Heads is without a doubt one of the hardest working bands in punk today. Shit, by the end of the year, I’ll have seen them four times in 2013 alone. They literally tour non-stop. Somehow they made time to go to the Blasting Room in Fort Collins, Colorado and record a new record entitled Home with legendary producer Bill Stevenson. The album was released on March 8th, 2013 on Epitaph. Off With Their Heads are touring right now, of course, including appearances at the Chicago and Denver Riot Fests, and the annual Fest in Gainesville this October.
Available Now
Track List
1. “Start Walking”
2. “Shirts”
3. “Nightlife”
4. “Focus on Your Own Family”
5. “Altar Boy”
6. “Don’t Make Me Go”
7. “Come Find Me”
8. “Janie”
9. “Seek Advice Elsewhere”
10. “Always Alone”
11. “Stolen Away”
12. “Take Me Out”
So I know that this album has been out for many, many months, but I got it when it was released and have listened to it fairly regularly since then and because of how much time has passed, I can very confidently say that Home is fucking awesome. The first song, “Start Walking,” is exactly what you would expect the first song on an Off With Their Heads album to sound like, catchy, fast, and gritty. Ryan Young’s lyrics are as depressing as ever, but he pulls it off without sounding like the whiny little girly-men that you will hear on any Warped Tour compilation.
OWTH’s last album, In Desolation, had a very big sound, and it’s a great record, but by “Shirts” you really notice how much bigger this album sounds, which can probably be directly attributed the fact that this album was recorded at the Blasting Room and produced by Bill Stevenson, who has helped put out some friggin’ phenomenal records this year, with Home being near the top of that list.
The third song, “Nightlife” was released as a single a month or two before the rest of the album. I remember hanging out with some friends and listening to this song, and one of them couldn’t have put it better when he said that, “This is how punk rock should sound in 2013”. “Nightlife” is fast, pissed off, and still somehow remains super poppy. “Focus on Your Own Family” is not only a great jab at the Christian media uber-brand Focus on the Family, but it’s a fantastic song as well. The opposite side of Young’s depressing lyrics are his hopeful, encouraging lyrics. Also, I can listen to the dude snarl, “Fuck ‘em all” all day every day. The pace is slowed down in “Altar Boy” but the pissing on religious institutions is not. The lyrics in this song declare very loudly Ryan Young’s independence from the church and all the bullshit that comes with that, which as the son of a former pastor, resonate with me fairly strongly.
Then along comes the mellow track. I was skeptical, like many other people I’m sure, when I first heard “Don’t Make Me Go” but after a couple of listens I really started to like it. This song shows that Off With Their Heads have more tricks in their bag other than the stereotypical “fast” and “loud”. I also must say, that they have incorporated this song into their live set very, very well. While it’s not my favorite song on the album, “Come Find Me” connects the slower song before it, and the faster song after it for a smoother transition between the two. “Janie” is my favorite song on the album. The lyrics are a downright bummer, but the music reminds me of drinking a bunch of beers and stagediving, an activity I’ve grown quite fond of over the years. Again, this is how punk rock should sound.
One thing that I really like about our respective pocket of underground music is that the people who play the music are pretty much exactly like the people that listen to it. In “Seek Advice Elsewhere” Ryan Young addresses people asking him to help solve their problems. I’m definitely paraphrasing here but in an interview with New Noise Magazine Ryan states that just because he writes lyrics about things like depression and loneliness doesn’t mean he knows how to help solve those problems, and while that may seem a bit blunt, it is a very honest statement that I don’t feel like many other lyricists would have the balls to say that. Some of us feel that most people don’t understand the degree to which they suck. This is what I think Ryan is singing about in the slower song, “Always Alone” although he does mention that it is also his fault that he is alone. Off With Their Heads continues to experiment with slower songs on this album like they did on the last one and quite frankly I think it’s working well.
“Stolen Away” is yet another sad, slow song about the woes of being a touring musician. I like the slower songs and even though I know that some people don’t really like them, at the very least it shouldn’t be surprising, especially with how much Ryan credits bands like Alkaline Trio with influencing Off With Their Head’s sound. The last song, “Take Me Out” is another fast and angry song and it closes out the album really well with the lyrics “Help me find a home”.
This may sound somewhat redundant but if someone came up to me and said, “For some dumb-ass reason I haven’t listened to any new punk bands for the last few years, what should I listen to?” this is one of the first albums I would give them. It is a perfect fusion of fury and pop, of slow songs and fast songs, of self- hate and bold, middle- finger- in- the- air- defiance. If for some reason you haven’t listened to this record yet, correct that immediately, because it is definitely one of the best records that has been, or will be released this year.
About the Author
Denise Borders 39, Los Angeles. Denise founded PWV in 2008 and remains the primary manager and photographer/videographer. She is not secretly obsessed with Joey Cape.
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