Oh lordy do I love this album.
Named after the Shakespeare Play, a thrilling tale about vengeance, inter-racial babies, pies made out of people, and the execution of a clown, Titus Andronicus have delivered us an amazing album that I struggle to classify. Is it indie rock? Maybe. Probably. But The Airing of Grievances
is first and foremost an exercise in ROCKING THE FUCK OUT.
So, what is The Airing of Grievances? It is guitar, and it is keyboard, and it is drum, and vocals, and sometimes there's a cello or a trumpet, and POWER. It's not metal, or even real traditional rock, but it hits you hard. This album would make Mother Teresa to thrash her arms all over the place and sing along. Vocalist Patrick Stickles does some amazing stuff throughout the album, most notably on the tracks Albert Camus and Upon Viewing Brueghel's "Landscape With The Fall Of Icarus". I really just cannot tell you with words what he adds to this album, which could have sold as purely an instrumental record. He's unhinged, he's raw, and he has shit that he wants you to hear. Lyrically, The Airing of Greivances has more than it's share of moments, but when it boils down to it, that's not what this album is about. Thankfully, Stickles' pipes more than makes up for it. There are tracks when you can't understand a word of the entire chorus, even while staring at the lyrics, and it's still alright, because you're singing along with him, words be damned!
Let's talk instrumentals. Really good. Really good, most of the time. They fall flat in a couple of places (hey, no one's perfect, especially on a debut album!), most obviously on Bright Eyes' reject song, No Future Part One. Strangely enough, the first thirty or so seconds on No Future Part Two is some of the best instrumentation on the entire record, and that is what I love about this album, more than the half-hearted literary asperations or general "smartness" of it all; it changes at every turn, and will keep you guessing. Still, I prefer to just crank it up, and flail the ol' extremities until I flail anymore.
Most of the flaws are tiny. One or two of the weaker songs can get repetitve after a few listens, especially the aforementioned No Future Part One. The production of the record seems half-hearted, even for a low budget band, which can be offputting to some**. There is the occasional monologue, taken from Titus Andronicus (the Shakespeare Tragedy) or Albert Camus' "The Stranger"**.
The Airing of Grievances ends strong, with Albert Camus, my favorite track, personally. Begining with Abraham Lincoln poisoning the milk of school children, and ending with a big "Fuck you!" to Death itself, it's certainly the most dynamic track on the album.
So, here it is. Final verdict time. I give, Titus Andronicus' debut album, The Airing of Greivances...
9.3/10
No password, friends. Enjoy.
**Personally, I like these things about the album, but I know not everyone feels the same way.
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