Boys Set Fire – The Misery Index: Notes From The Plague Years

It’s weird how sometimes it takes a while for a band to grow on you. You hear one song here and there and slowly start to fall in love with them before you finally pick up their CDs. On the other hand, sometimes, a band just get thrown at you – and it’s like a sign from above saying you need to check these out. My introduction to Boy Sets Fire was like that. First a friend casually brought them up in conversation, saying how much she liked them. The next day I was downtown and I saw an old CD of their in the clearance rack, and knew I had to buy it. Three or four days later, I came home from school, and there, on my table, was the band’s newest album The Misery Index: Notes From The Plague Years waiting to be heard. And while the whole saying it was a “sign” thing is probably pure bullshit, I’m sure glad I finally got around to sitting down and hearing the band.

But like I said, I don’t know anything about their past – other than their 2002 EP Live For Today which I mentioned above. So I have nothing to compare it to, only heresay and other’s opinions. Which, is probably a nice way to absorb this album, because for me, they had a clean slate. Nothing to make up for, nothing to prove, and nothing to continue. And what I got was simply amazing.

I’ve always picture Boy Sets Fire as a hardcore band, with random screaming and heavy breakdowns – so I was never really excited to jump into their open arms. And while they definitely still have their hardcore moments on here, I’d probably call them an incredibly intelligent rock band instead; because somehow they are able to put a sequence of seemingly random genres together in one CD, and it all fits perfectly.

They have the incredibly hardcore moments and songs like A Far Cry, Social Register Fanclub, Final Communique and the second half of the phenomenal opener, Walk Astray. But then they throw curve balls at you with songs like Deja Coup and So Long… And Thanks For All The Crutches by throwing in the use of trombone at the choruses, very reminiscent of The Killing Moon. Still, it’s songs likeRequiem, (10) and Counting, and Empire which really hold the CD together with their much more mellow mood.

Nevertheless, the two things that make this CD stand out so much are Josh Latshaw’s absolutely mind blowing vocals, and the underlying political anthem sewn throughout the album album. And while I have no idea how they’ll reproduce some of these songs live, for a CD, it’s incredibly entertaining and worth picking up.