40 Below Summer - The Mourning After

When the first thing I hear on an album is feedback, then someone imploring me to “hear [myself], free [myself], fuck [myself]” (“Selfmedicate”) I tend to develop the following seven immediate judgements about a band: (1) This is a metallish band, but probably an upstart who is already applying everything they’d learned from crowd chants to their songs; (2) There will be a fair amount of self-hate on this album; (3) There will be a certain element of anti-religion, specifically Christianity, on this album, if not lots of religious imagery with Christ-identity; (4) There will be screaming; (5) There will be at least one “soft” song of sensitivity; (6) There will be a recurring theme of “fuck the system” because the singer/band/microculture has been shunned by society and feels the need to join as well as rebel. If all these elements are present, I am not surprised nor upset; I’m only concerned that they are done well. “Selfmedicate” takes care of option one, and “Monday Song” (“Life is lost for me…When I feel the burn in my life God please end this”) and “Rain” (“And I’ll always sink into nothing/And I’m on my knees again”) take care of option two wholly, though self-hate is a recurring theme on The Mourning After. “A Season in Hell” (the best song on the album) and “Taxicab Confession” (“Can you feel it my brothers-It’s time to repent/ [screamed] Can I get an amen!”) more than satisfies option three, as well as a bit of option four, which is satisfied by all the songs on the albums except “Breathless,” which is a koan that takes the slot of option number five. And finally, “F.E.” and “Alienation” (“If I could give myself a new face/ Then maybe I could join the human race”) do an excellent job of filling the requirement of option six. Requirements or pre-judgements have been proven; formula has been documented; and the album’s not bad, nor is it remarkable. The musicianship is on par with the standards (I can list them too, like (1) machine-gun drumming preluding a pause, (2) dropped bass twang (most notable users of this: Korn)) and I’m not unhappy. 40 Below Summer have made a good angry, alienated, and hard-ish album. I’m just bummed that I could call it, step by step. [www.40belowsummer.com]