Against Me! – Searching For A Former Clarity

I’ve had mixed feelings about Against Me! for a bit, but lately they have been swaying more towards the positive side of things. You see, the first CD I heard by them, As The Eternal Cowboy, wasn’t that good a CD. It had a few good songs on it, but nothing to make it lasting, so I immediately wrote of f the Floridians. Around a year later though, they came back to the forefront with an absolutely phenomenal DVD, We’re Never Going Home! – and that DVD immediately changed my mind about them. I actually became a huge fan of them because of that one DVD. A few months later, they came through Edmonton for the first time and I found myself in the mosh pit. Despite the fact that I was ner the verge of throwing up, the concert was still lots of fun and the band was amazing. So its safe to say my emotions towards them were turning upwards quickly, and I was actually becoming excited to hear their new CD, Searcing For A Former Clarity; and now that I have, it’s obvious it was worth the wait.

From the minute I herd them belt out Problems at their concert, I knew the CD would be good. The image of James beating himself in the chest along with the chorus is still, and probably will be for a long time, implated in my memory. And where Problems kicked off, the album continues.You still get the classic sing along folk punk that has made Against Me! a fan favorite. After one listen of Holy Shit! you can easily picture yourself screaming along with Gabel’s croaky vocals during the chorus of “Oh Good God! Holy Shit! The Jokes On Us! Not On Them!” or chanting “On The Inside” during Unprotected Sex With Multiple Partners.

Of course, while they do have some spectacular songs like Pretty Girls (The Mover), Don’t Lose Touch and the album-titled Searching For A Former Clarity (which is an amazing slow song depicting the death of someone), there are the odd few weak ones which made you reach for the skip button or fall asleep. Long with the slow and monotonous How Low or Joy, and Violence could use a good hard kick at times too.

Nevertheless, Searching For A Former Clarity is a pretty solid album throughout. It was the album I was expecting from the vocally driven folk punks, with an odd few songs that even went over my expectations. It’s a lot better than As The Eternal Cowboy and I’m sure long time fans will swoon over it.