Favorite Album: @colinska4

Let’s go across the pond for today’s favorite album

Name/Twitter Handle

English_Sox_Colin – @colinska4

Favorite Album

Palm Reader – Bad Weather (2013)

First time you heard it

I was at a poker night. One of the people playing was (and still is) a close friend of mine, who occasionally did a bit of roady work for a rockabilly band. The underground/alternative music scene in England at times can get a little small and therefore you can occasionally get some pretty mixed line ups, genre wise. Whilst at a show he heard Palm Reader (Math/Melodic Hardcore) and confidently informed me that they would end up being my favorite band. We put this album on whilst playing and I quickly found out he was right. I did not win any money that night at the poker table but no longer cared.

How often do you listen to it?

These days only a few times a year as I am always on the hunt for my next favorite band. Listening to the album whilst writing this, I have realised that is a clear error on my part (yes realised is spelt with an S and not a Z, I know you Americans do this to cheat at scrabble).

Why is this your favorite album?

Vocal style is key to my music enjoyment. For me to love a band, the singer will normally need to be able to blend clean and unclean vocals (not screaming/screaming). This delivery style for me provides the emotion required from a singer for it to reach my ears. From when I first got into alternative music to now, this has been a main stay. The vocals of Jeffrey Moreira (Poison the Well) or Keith Buckley (Every Time I Die, Many Eyes) are the perfect template for what I mean. Josh Mckeown (Palm Reader) for me, is the best singer/screamer in the UK for a delivery style that almost sounds like it hurts, due to how much it seems he is feeling what he is singing. As the comedian/prophet Bill Hicks once said “Play from your heart”.

The second thing I love is Math/weird time signatures, ideally played as fast as possible, with my favorite bands over time being The Dillinger Escape Plan, The Chariot and the aforementioned Every Time I Die. What the mixture of this vocal style and math creates is the sound of pure aggression, in a different but similar way to what hardcore punk can inspire.

The album itself mixes aggression in its lyrics and tone consistently, with songs titled Spineless and Smack Hound early on in the track listings delivering music that you would likely associate with titles such as those. This is followed by the occasional Melodic Hardcore song, particularly highlighted by the final two tracks Noble Hose (Grace Pt. 3) and Whites of Our Eyes.

This later track is the final song on the album and is a stand out song for me, even if the band didn’t think so, as they either couldn’t or never wanted to play it live. Whites of Our Eyes starts with the aggression of songs earlier in the album but transcends in to a melodic banger, with guitar tone reminiscent of Devil Sold His Soul (UK’s best melodic Hardcore band) layered into the aggression.

The band would have told you that track 6, Seeing & Believing Are Two Different Things is the stand out song on the album, as they used this as the closer of their sets for the next 5 or 6 years.

If you are or have ever been a fan of Converge, The Dillinger Escape Plan or Poison the Well, this band might be for you too. Sadly last year, after over a decade of touring, they decided to call it a day as a band. The singer now plys his trade in a band called Vower, with ex-members of the band Black Peaks.

Which track would be your walk up music?

Whites of Our Eyes