Producing a sole acoustic release can be unsteady territory for bands, especially when it could threaten to hinder the core of the band's driving sound. This sentiment could be generally applied to the plethora of Punk bands and could be seen as the general consensus amongst pockets of the subculture with the "more Punk than you" complex. However, Still Rings True walk into this unsteady territory with their latest release, Rebel Music, compiled of five acoustic renditions of original songs with the intent to paint a new, unfamiliar face of the band to its listeners.
Rebel Music is an ambitious release showing songs that accentuate the social and political rhetoric behind each of them in the stripped environment. Showcasing acoustic renditions of songs that span across the band's discography, Still Rings True carefully revive the skeleton of the wide spectrum of songs which appear on Rebel Music.
What We Carry Inside, from the Anger Is A Gift EP, is still anthemic with its potent melody emphasized more in this stripped version. The last refrain of "we value our time here" soars as it fades. In Drowning, from the full-length I Wouldn’t Call This Living, the band employs a Ska-esque style in this new revamped version, which would liken them to NOFX. Each stroke is thick and allows the band to experiment with the original vocal in a new tempo allowing vocalist/guitarist Josh Snyder and bassist/co-vocalist Leo Lamay to layer each other perfectly. However, this unfortunately seems to be the only glimpse of where the band attempt to run in with this new stride of the acoustic terrain antithesis that they find themselves in with Rebel Music.
In Broken, from the band’s Free Songs demo, the band fails to strike any strong chord and the track comes across as the only sign of filler on the record. However, the band picks up again on the new track, No Compromise, which is the brightest moment on the record. This is only supported by the narrative of vocalist Snyder as he says "where the poor are killing the poor, while the prophets and puppeteers watch from afar". Closer, This Is A threat, from the full-length Tear Down The Walls, is a subtle curtain-call to the record showing how the band strives to excel themselves with the lingering vocal harmonies.
Although offering a new side to face of Still Rings True, showing an alternative to the band's usual musical comfort zone of fast, upbeat full-band songs, Rebel Music shows a glimpse into how the band begin to showcase the extent of their musicianship. However, Rebel Music fails in showcasing anything striking that new listeners could cling to while listening and comes across as preaching to the converted with any slight investment into the new interpretations of the existing songs.
Tracklist:
1. What We Carry Inside
2. Drowning
3. Broken
4. No Compromise
5. This Is A Threat
Rating:
Written by Aaron Akeredolu
