5 out of 5

Label: V2

Producer: John Goodmanson

This was the beginning of the end for the Brothers, in the sense that ‘Crimes’ indicated their leaps and bounds of progression, taking it to a shining endpoint on the followup album to this one, ‘Young Machetes.’  But that doesn’t diminish how great of an album ‘Crimes’ was.

It gets off to a ear scratching start with ‘Feed Me to the Forest,’ a discordant riff scraped from the fringes of the post-hardcore barrel.  This is its own track, but also an introduction into what’s to come – this weird smash between pop and screamo that other bands have attempted but never as successfully balanced as The Blood Brothers.  We step fully into the usually vile and inventive lyrical territory with ‘Trash Flavored Trash,’ but its when ‘Love Rhymes With Hideous Car Wreck’ snaps across for track 3 that you have to realize the game has changed.  There’s always been something smiling and sneering to the Blood sound, but Johnny Whitney’s vocals – this shrill, girlish thing – find its finger-snapping pitch, and Jordan Billie’s plaintive yowl steps in for just the right monotone grounding (compare to the vocal gymnastics of Neon Blonde for how exhausting it can be – though I love that album as well – when Whitney fully takes over).  Fans would claim that ‘Crimes’ wasn’t hardcore enough and its true, the heart is in pop until the last couple tracks bring back the shouting, but this isn’t a bid for stardom – play this next to ‘March On’ or ‘Piano Island’ and there’s no doubting it’s the same band.

The tweak to the sound is undoubtedly strengthened by John Goodmanson.  These elements have always been there, but previous producers Matt Bayles and Rick Rubin just weren’t the men to flush it to the surface.  The full balance of the sonic range, allowing every player to get their due assumedly gave the band songwriting focus.  The compositions here are the best they’ve ever been – previous tracks would occasionally stutter on for too long or not build to much beyond an intense initial hit, but every song on ‘Crimes’ is memorable because of how complete and unique they are.  The same can be said for the lyrics.  Jarbled imagery and narratives and been slicked into clearly understandable metaphors and incredibly clear, felt tales.  The title track, for example, paints a defined picture upon its first listen through the delivery and word choice, even if the details aren’t exactly straight forward.

In comparison to Machetes, it loses a bit of its punch, and repeated listens just bring the pop feeling further and further forward, robbing it of some of its jaw-dropping initial screamo impact, but you can’t fault the album for being so accomplished that it becomes easier to chew on.  I envy those going in for their first listen.