Closet Monster – We Re-built This City

I remember standing in the mosh pit at Red’s one night looking up at the opening band on the stage: Closet Monster. I wasn’t that impressed and laughed as one of the singers refused to close his mouth and kept it wide open the entire thirty minute set. A few months later, I saw Mamma Anti-Fascisto (Never Surrender) on Much Music once and I was impressed slightly, but soon forgot about them. Then, just recently I got my hands on Underground Operations‘ new compilation CD The Power Of Music – and on that CD was The Empire Strikes Iraq. And after one listen to it, I was blown away and I knew I had to hear more from the band and went on a search for their newest CD and in a few weeks, I was excited to see it sitting in my mailbox.

Now, my first question was: will the rest of the CD be as good as The Empire Strikes Iraq and be stuck in repeat for weeks on end? The answer was sadly no. But as I played it more, We Re-Built This Cityquickly grew on me and I could easily see it being stuck on repeat at a bit in the future.

The short seven song EP is full of fast, energetic punk rock songs that can’t help but motivate you. With three vocalists, all of which can hold a strong tune, you get a variation in sound tone with a bombardment of vocals that never come to an end. Just as one line ends, another begins, cutting the previous off in its final few words only to be smothered by a few woah-ahs at its end.

But I’ve talked about The Empire Strikes Iraq a few times now – what exactly is it you ask? It is possibly one of the best acoustic songs written in a long time. The short song, clocking in at 1:22, condemns the war on Iraq and gets you instantly singing along while thinking about the current state of affairs. This song alone is worth the small amount of cash for the EP.

After thoroughly enjoying We Re-built This City, I’m sure when I next see Closet Monster live I won’t be pre-occupied with the singer’s gaping mouth, but rather too busy pumping my fist in the air as I dance and sing along with the melodic street punk songs. And as their bio states: these sing-along declarations of political outrage and hope for humanity will stick in your head and your heart.