Albums

Album Review: The Banner

[Album: Frailty]
[Label: Ferret Music]

How often do you get to hear an entire album by a band you’ve never heard of? Not very, I’m guessing. In a way it’s good because you can only form expectations from the way the band presents themselves – on the cover of the CD, from the photos inside, from the lyrics in the booklet. Well in this case, I get a CD with a hand-drawn cover depicting various mythical beasts slaying each other, a biography stating that the band have “cut all the bullshit” and are using a “heavier tuning” on this, their “loudest record”, and most importantly, a logo I couldn’t read at first glance. “Oh great” thinks I, “it’s another Bring Me The Horizon/Job For A Cowboy-style goregrind band”.

Fortunately, it didn’t take long to prove me completely wrong. After a brief, mildly grin-inducing-but-ultimately-pointless southern style acoustic intro, the album proper turns out to be good old-fashioned hardcore. Loud, heavy, generally fast, occasionally sludgy - all the ingredients of NYHC are in there, even if the band themselves are from New Jersey.

With this kind of music, arguably, the most important element is the force behind it and The Banner certainly aren’t lacking in that department. From start to finish they barely pause for breath, and when they do it’s a welcome relief. The songs more or less alternate between short and long, with the longer songs giving the band a chance to slow things down – not to lessen the impact, more as a chance to kick you in the guts once the faster sections have knocked you down. It’s intense, pummeling stuff.

Whilst there’s nothing particularly ground-breaking about the way The Banner play, they don’t sound all that much like anyone else either. In places they’re not entirely unlike fellow Ferret signings Every Time I Die, only tuned lower – even the vocals have a similar feel but in a lower register. There’s something about fast punky riffs ending with dissonant chords that sounds a bit manic and light-hearted, and it’s definitely a quality The Banner share with their label mates. There are a few nice touches musically too. A few well-placed and suitably creepy lead parts add some atmosphere and texture, which is often lacking in such in-your-face bands.

There’s not much in the way of stand-out tracks (that is to say it’s all pretty even, not that it’s lacking in highlights), though ‘Dusk’ is my favourite – it’s also the one the band made available on their MySpace, which says to me they quite like it too. It’s slightly more grandiose than the rest of the album, but the visceral sound is still there in spades.

The production is just about perfect for the band – the drums are loud and the guitars are right up front, with the vocals forcing their way through form the depths. The snare sound is immense; it’s deeper than most but still snaps like a punch to the face. The whole thing is brickwalled like an old Stooges LP, verging on the red from the moment the ‘The Wolf’ kicks in all the way to the end of ‘The Father and the Wayward Son’. My only gripe with the sound is the kick. As with so many modern heavy albums, the “click” and the “thump” are like separate instruments, and the beater sound sits on top of the mix a bit – just listen to the outro of ‘Sphrenia’. It’s a small issue though, and with the volume turned up you won’t pay any attention to it.

Playing this type of music, The Banner are never likely to make an absolutely classic – it’s the nature of the genre that there isn’t much room for real innovation – but this is a really decent album that’s compact and malevolent, just how it should be. I’d love to see how it translates live, because if these guys play with as much gusto on stage as they did recording this, it could be one Hell of a night. It builds up for all of 60 seconds, pummels you for the next 35 minutes and leaves you with a slightly evil grin. What more could you want? It’ll definitely be getting a few more plays in my house, I know that much.

For fans of: Every Time I Die (especially their early stuff), NORA, Until The End
Band link = The Banner

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