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Schoolyard Heroes Hide Unexpected
Horrors In Their Abominations To sum up Schoolyard Heroes’ latest LP release Abominations, the words “unpredictable” and “catchy” come right to the forefront! A name that echoes something so innocent and “scene” versus an album with horror themed song titles and artwork versus West Coast punk and a collage of vocal styles: Oh, yeah! One would be caught completely off guard by this group making waves against the grain of the repetitively produced young bands of today. The Heroes’ lead vocalist Ryann Donnelly shows off her Siouxsie Sioux-style vocals with the grittier backdrop from co-vocalist and bassist Jonah Bergman throughout the album, including one of the album’s hit singles “The Plastic Surgery Hall of Fame”. This song also defines the Heroes’ ability to time change and spike up the beat to intense levels of energy. At first listen to Abominations’ intro track “Dude, Where’s My Skin?” the first impression whisks one away back to the marching bands and cheerleaders of high school. It only takes a few seconds before Donnelly violently interrupts with the lyrics “Take off your skin and dance with me.” If that doesn’t turn heads, maybe the break into the punk-influenced chorus backed by the classic Dark Shadows keys supplied by Nouela Oake Johnston will stop the memory gears and slam the mind into state of slight discomfort, away from the monotonous sounds of the radio mainstream. May the angst-ridden teenage fan not let the musical ingenuity of guitarist Steve Bonnell and drummer Brian Turner, rhythmed out by Bergman’s bass, go unnoticed in the dance/skank tunes of “Violence Is All The Rage”, “Razorblade Kisses”, and “All The Pretty Corpses.” This is not an album for just one group, but anyone individual that loves a great clash of great musicianship. For any fan of an animated Tim Burton film, one would suspect Danny Elfman infiltrated the studio and laid some breath into “Children of the Night,” but alas the Heroes’ supply that happy-horror feel themselves with a few twists of their own. After a nice breath of fresh graveyard punk, one can tune out to a numbing score of either “The Last Man on Earth” or “Beautiful Woman Hunter”. In conclusion, the Heroes deliver a synthesis of the album’s essentials in the final track “Screaming ‘Theater’ In a Crowded Fire”; of which, concludes with what could only be expected as the instrumental disassemble given at the bittersweet end of a live performance. The overall production sound comes from the crisp work of producer John Goodmanson, whose previous works include Sepultura’s Nation, Saliva’s Every Six Seconds, and Matchbook Romance’s Voices. Props are in order for the nicely polished and well-balancing of the Cemetery Girls Choir (refer to the album jacket) for their vocal endorsements in “Cemetery Girls.” Abominations represents one of the many stand-alone albums of 2007 when compare to much of today’s pop music, and refuses to bow to any specific genre style musically, vocally, or lyrically besides the occasional punk influence. Even then, will the guitars and drum tear up the basic 4x4 rhythm style and incorporate the individual sways of hard rock to the synchronized club-dance mixes. Schoolyard Heroes just finished a tour with Birthday Massacre and are rounding up a tour with Aiden, only to top off with a performance at this year’s Bamboozle, sharing the stage with My Chemical Romance and Anti-Flag. On a personal note, a desired performance would be to see the Heroes take the stage in support of the Mars Volta, even for just one evening – they could make quite a dicing pair.
Track Listing for Abominations
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