The Dangerous Summer - War Paint
Like an atom bomb dropped from a jet airliner, the record starts blasting chords and rhythms into your brain. Mixing accent guitar riffs with the rhythm, the guitars make a mixture that complement each other and shoot into a spiritual sonic atmosphere. The lyrics set the standard for what will be sung throughout the entire album. A swift blend of philosophical ideas with the interpersonal relationships we all deal with on a daily basis. The title track, "War Paint", is a compression of the overall impression of the record. Catchy choruses, intelligent lyrics, infectious guitars, intoxicating rhythms, and the desire to not stop listening. The ability to tear down the song and build it back up is exercised more than once on this track, and each time it is done perfectly.
The first single on the album, "Work In Progress", starts with a riff that carries on throughout the song. Nearly the entire duration of the track involves building off of the riff, slowly with layer after layer of guitars, bass, drums, and vocals. The payoff comes in the choruses, where the band summons their creative powers and like a Zord, the cohesive sound is much more powerful than divided. Eventually the song appears to have burned itself out, but the vocals still power through the final fade out, screaming lines from the chorus. Next we have one of my favorites off the record, "No One's Gonna Need You More". Starting off with upbeat drums and a whisking rhythm that keeps the song moving at near dance-track speeds. The vocals themselves have an infectious rhythm to them, making it that much easier to sing along. The guitars never really come to the forefront, instead opting for a complementary role to the rhythm section, which is a refreshing change to the band's usual pace. The song finishes with a build-up that eventually dips back down into the chorus, never breaking the locomotive of drums and bass that powered the song from the start.
The next song was released as a single nearly a year ago, but was re-recorded for the new album. "Good Things" starts with less of an intro than it initially had and gets right into the opening verse. Working off the initial recording of the song, the choruses have become much more epic, and have become much more of a complete band experience. This song acts as a counter-point of hope and prosperity to "Work In Progress"'s message of depression and anguish. Next we have "Siren", the supreme song in a lyrical sense. The guitar riff acts as siren and stays constant throughout nearly the entire song. The choruses are uplifting and powerful, but they are nothing compared to the final verse. Working as an ultimate letter of longing love, the final verse is what you would have if you were to empty a person's soul onto sheet music. Not even then, however, would you be able to reproduce the passion you feel circulate up until the final note.While on their tour with Sparks The Rescue and The Graduate, The Dangerous Summer debuted the next track "Everyone Left". In a strange turn of events, this track features guitars working in pure rhythm with drums doing the accenting notes. Again, the song seems to be constantly building and absolutely never content with the direction it's headed. With cohesive choruses built on catchy vocal melodies, the rest of the band seems to be accent pieces to the words being sang. With the lyrics that we hear, that is perfectly fine. The closest thing to a typical pop-punk song on the record comes up with "Miscommunication". The guitars shine with a punk rhythm, and escalate to inertia in stereo during the choruses. That's where the gem of the song is found, in the chorus. Up beat and lifting melodies, rhythms, riffs, vocals, all of it combine to make a powerful blast of energy and joy.
One of the more unique songs on the record, "I Should Leave Right Now", involves an interesting guitar riff that combines a rhythm guitar approach but finishing the riff with lead sensibilities. In the choruses the riff finishes without the final lead notes, and stays in the rhythm section. The further into the song you get the more it becomes evident that it's almost as if the guitars are a back-up singer, giving the lead vocals more depth and an echo effect. If there were ever a "weak" song out of the bunch I would choose "Parachute". It's not even that it's not as good as the other songs, it's just that it is much more of a formula song. The blueprint to this track has been heard before, but The Dangerous Summer just seems to do it better than it has been done before. It seems to be the feeling that this is the next song that they wrote after "Good Things", because there are a lot of similarities between the two, with "Parachute" having a much more pop-punk chorus, and "Good Things" a more alternative chorus.
"In My Room" starts out as one of the slower songs on the record, with just a guitar and vocals. It may be a little accent, but the vocal rhythm at the beginning of when the band comes in and near the beginning of the second verse, is a prime example of what makes The Dangerous Summer great. Not being content with just singing the lines, the vocals are used as another instrument with how they are sang. Overall, this song is more enticing than most on the record. The mood of the entire song seems to be melancholy, but the guitars and drums seem to be pushing the song to an up-lifting mood. The album closer "Waves" is a great showcase of how far the band has come. From high school to this very moment, each member of the band is at the top of their game. The maturity level is off the charts from where it was at in the youth stages of the band, no more than the lyrics. The lyrics in the chorus are some of the finest I have ever heard, let alone heard from any band among The Dangerous Summer's peers. Every instrument works into a cohesive vision of a song that soars like a phoenix through the sonic atmosphere right up until the final note where we see the bird fly off into the sunset. One of the finest album closers in the genre, of the year, and of ever.Throughout music there has been great bands that burst onto the scene with a fine debut album they have worked their entire lives to make. After touring on that record, it's time to get right back into the studio and record a follow-up. Many bands have fallen victim to the sophomore slump and many more will in the future. Many bands also get too high of expectations for a follow-up to a fantastic debut and end up in a fan whiplash. A record like this shatters and surpasses every expectation, as well as bending the sophomore slump over and making that its bitch. The Dangerous Summer have taken every life changing or molding event they have gone through and used it to create the best album they've done as well as the best album of the year.
Once in a great while a record comes along that strikes you at just the right time, maybe that's what happened to me the first time I heard this record. Listen after listen, however, I can't seem to stop playing each song over again. Songs that I wasn't keen on in the beginning have grown on me and shown the strength of the entire album. Not only is this a near lock for album of the year, but this is the kind of record I will show to my children. Sometimes words just can't express the feeling that you get when listening to a record, I could have easily just reviewed this by saying "You just have to listen to it", but anything less than "Life changing album" wouldn't do War Paint justice.
Recommended If You Like: The Dangerous Summer - Reach For The Sun, The Starting Line - Say It Like You Mean It, Yellowcard - Ocean Avenue
Verdict: 10 / 10
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