Grandfather Rock Harder Than Your Grandpa
Somewhere near the intersection of 90s grunge, catchy pop, and moody indie/alt-rock, lies Brooklyn’s Grandfather. The band conveyed a dark, haunting (allbeit slightly repetitive) mood throughout their impressive debut album Why I’d Try (which was incidentally recorded by the infamous Steve Albini), and while these undertones are certainly present on their upcoming sophomore release In Human Form (out August 13th), the songwriting has matured a bit and now represents a much wider spectrum of evocative emotion. Perhaps this can be somewhat credited to the lineup changes, which include the addition of my former FAMILY drummer Phil Sangiacomo and for a spell, engineer/mixer extraordinaire Justin Mantooth on the bass guitar. The irony that Phil went from a band called FAMILY to one called Grandfather should be lost on no one. What’s next, Sister Sister & the Creepy Uncles???
According to the press release for In Human Form, apparently the members of Grandfather recently moved into an industrial building to write the album, giving up “basic necessities like a functional shower or kitchen” in order to stay focused on the task at hand….so then does that mean that these guys didn’t bathe or eat during the creation of the record??? Or just had to endure tons of pizza and gas station tranny hooker sink showers to stay crisp and clean? It seems they managed to build a makeshift shower using plastic tubing and a microphone stand, but the damn thing needed to go after it starting leaking on the downstairs tenants.
Either way, I gotta hand it to them — the new album sounds fucking great, and in my humble opinion, could catch on quite nicely with the kiddies. Flavorwire claims that Grandfather is better than Soundgarden,which is downright ridiculous, but the comparison is not lost entirely; there is an underlying 90s element here, and some wailing vocals at times (although I wouldn’t necessarily liken them stylistically to Chris Cornell).
Produced by the mighty Alex Newport (The Mars Volta, Melvins), In Human Form is a stellar collection of rich, moody, hooky tunes that are catchy enough to stick in your head (and perhaps play in a semi-depressing car commercial) but rock with enough purpose to lovingly smother an infant to death. Macabre imagery aside, please bear in mind that this is not Metal whatsoever, but rather falls into the in-between vein that some of us here at MetalMeNoLike gravitate towards at times (I’m looking at you, Neilstein!)…..fans of Radiohead, Muse, and Dredg would surely dig Grandfather. And for the last goddamn time don’t call me Shirley, mofo!
All jokes aside, this one is already on my most-spun albums of 2013 list…..and those were no lost hours. Listening to it now for the tenth time just makes me wanna hear it again.
In Human Form comes out on August 13th; in the meantime you can check out the song “Metamorphosis” which recently premiered on Indie Shuffle and/or go to the band’s website.
Oh, and if you live in the New York area you can catch Grandfather and FAMILY tomorrow night at The Acheron in Brooklyn with Lost Coves and Godmaker…
