Northbound - Death Of A Slug (Album Review)
On first listen I can't help but think in a year when bands like The Hotelier, Weatherbox, and You Blew It! have become really big names that Northbound could easily fit in great with them. Death Of A Slug's ten tracks show an artist who has crafted one of the more impressive emo/indie/punk albums you'll probably hear this year. "Lucky Sentimental" kicks off the album and it's one of the better first tracks I've heard on an album in a while. Lyrically I really like the song and it has such a great vibe. It's definitely the type of song that intrigues the listener. On first listen it definitely made me want to stick with the album to check out the remaining nine songs. "Leech" is a fantastic slice of emo/rock that's impressive both musically and lyrically. The guitar parts and Fraser's lyrics show how well thought out these songs are. "Actor" works so well as an acoustic song and it transitions to the acoustic half of the album really well. "Drop Out" features one of the strongest vocal performances from Fraser on the acoustic tracks. He belts out the lyrics with such strained intensity that the emotions just bleed out of the song.
The first five tracks are super impressive and I dig the full band sound. It's interesting when the album switches and from track six on it's all acoustic. It reminds me of Fraser's older songs and it kind of reminds me of what This Wild Life did on Heart Flip. The latter half of the album is really interesting. You'd think it'd lose some of the intensity. In some ways it does, obviously it's a little more somber due to the acoustic vibe, but Fraser keeps up the intensity vocally. I honestly can't decide what I prefer more on the album, the full band stuff on the first half of the album or the acoustic latter half of the album. Fraser anchors the entire thing so well with his extremely strong vocal performance that it all feels pretty darn solid.
This album is the entire package. It succeeds in sound and songwriting on about every level. Be it production, mixing, performance, or songwriting the entire album is spot on and it's hard to find much, if anything, I don't like about it. Some listeners could complain about the way the album is half electric and half acoustic. I can understand that it could make the album feel slightly disjointed. However, I tend to think that the way the vocals are performed ties everything together pretty nicely.
Northbound's new album Death Of A Slug is pretty impressive. It's one of those type of albums that has me thinking this might be one of the best things I've heard this year. If you're currently enjoying any of the bands I've mentioned or find yourself riding the emo-revival bandwagon you should probably jump on the Northbound bandwagon as well because you're missing out. Check this out. It's too good to pass up. I am pretty confident that this will turn up on my best albums of the year list this year.
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