Take It Back! – Can’t Fight Robots

I have been waiting for Facedown to sign a band like this for ages. With the exception of xLooking Forwardx, most of the music on Facedown is very mosh oriented. Whether or not it’s a good thing, I’ve found myself scorning protracted breakdowns and severely de-tuned guitars, preferring a different side of hardcore embodied by acts that don’t tack on gimmicks to make their music more appealing to a larger base of fans. It pleases me to say that Take It Back! can potentially appeal to a crowd that doesn’t require a constant barrage of heavy riffage and a blitz of double-kick beats to get a thrill out of their music.

The press pack I got stated that this is a must have for fans of Comeback Kid, Set Your Goals, and Pennywise. Out of the aforementioned groups, Comeback Kid probably has the most in common with this group. Take It Back! lacks the annoying poppy hooks you’d expect from a Set Your Goals album (I had to use every bit of will-power I could muster not to degrade this review into a Set Your Goals rant) and it’s not in the least a skate punk record. Like Comeback Kid, you could probably label this music “melodic” and the description would stick. As far as melodic hardcore goes, the songs aren’t as catchy as say, Kid Dynamite, but they do have a certain quality to them that might just keep you coming back. The music isn’t that complex, but that doesn’t keep it from sounding good. I couldn’t help but tap my foot to the beat and hum along to choruses. Also, hats off to Dave Quiggle for creating some fairly awesome album art.

I don’t have very many grievances to voice about this album, but there are some. A few songs have vocals accompanying the main singer that just don’t feel necessary. It’s become very common for bands to use “melodic vocals,” aka singing, to add some extra punch to their music. From reading some other reviews, some people love it, but I’m not very big on melodic vocals. Generally, they tend to water the music down and annoy the piss out of me. Luckily, Take It Back! doesn’t make much use of melodic vocals (oddly, when they do, it kind of sounds like Blink 182 is singing through my speakers). A few of the tracks have synth and piano in them, even for just a moment, that just seem out of place.

All in all, this is a good CD. There are a few songs that I won’t be too hasty to replay, but the overall quality makes Can’t Fight Robots fairly appealing. Hopefully, Facedown will be signing a few more bands like this at some point in the future.