Album Review :: Greys :: If Anything

Written by: Andrea Janov, CC2K Music Editor

Greys :: If Anything :: Carpark Records

Greys’ If Anything reminds you just how awesome it is to be a punk rock kid. It is distorted and screamy and aggressive and full of messy passion and vigor. I listened to this album so many times before I even started to make notes for the review. It is so visceral that I didn’t know where to begin.

The whole album, start to finish, is solid. There is energy, there is range, and there is never a lull. Greys has manipulated every element of this album to their will, you immediately understand that they achieved exactly what they wanted to from every track, every note, and every piece of distortion.

The first track Guy Picciotto is a thrashy accost on your stagnate being. It is so full of energy that there is no way that it will not agitate you, rile you up, and get you fucking moving. Use Your Disillusion is old school snotty hardcore with gravely vocals and distorted guitars and a brooding bass. Flip Yr Lid is a melodic indie garage rock track that reminds you of when alternative was good. Pretty Grimm has just the right amount of melody to make you sing along, just the right amount of yelling to make is punk, and just the right amount of distortion to make a pit thrash. Chick Singer has the slightest hints of Dead Kennedys tongue in cheek snotty social commentary. Brain Dead is super fast and super melodic and super fun, this will probably be the song that you get stuck in your head. Lull is more complex than the rest of the tracks, there are great moments were the music fades and the vocals take on a hunting tone and near the end of the track the layered vocals and frantic music great a perfect sonic chaos. Lull is the perfect ending to If Anything, we started out with distorted rage and have progressed to this slow, dark, multi-layered song that extends into the silence even after the album stops.

If Anything is the type of album that can turn someone into a punk rock kid, it has the passion to not only grab you, to make you look into what else they have recorded, but to also go out and find what other bands and albums are part of this genre.