The Flatliners – The Great Awake

While not as heavily promoted as some releases, for me, The Great Awake was a highly anticipated release. I loved their debut, Destroy To Create, and the prospect of a new Flatliners record excited me and with it finally here I can’t help but feel happy with the outcome; because while it isn’t quite what I expected, The Great Awake shows a more mature and more complete sound from the very young band.

For you see, while the core sound is still The Flatliners, The Great Awake is vastly different than Destroy To Create was with the main difference being found in the speed of the music and the vocals. While the best thing about the band’s debut was the lightning fast vocal delivery by Chris Cresswell, on their sophomore release, Cresswell vocals seem much more refined. At times they are still that blistering speed, harsh and rough, perfectly worn out and beer soaked (July! August! Reno! and Mother Teresa Chokeslams The World being two examples of that) but for the most part they are much more controlled. They’re still rough but feature much more of a Greg Attonito vibe to them. Songs like Eulogy and Meanwhile, In Hell… sees Cresswell having a much more prominent role in the songs as his vocals are more decipherable and thus much easier for the listener to sing along with and really dive into. And while there is a deep contrast between the two delivery styles, there is enough similarities between the two that neither seem absurd and out of place which makes for a more complete and diverse album.

Another slight difference between the two albums is the ska reggae overtones. On Destroy To Create the band was more focused on fast street punk fused with some slight ska melodies whereas on The Great Awake the band dropped most of those ska overtones (except for on the album closer KHTDR). Instead when The Flatliners throw in those upstrokes, they go all the way this time and actually have full blown reggae songs. Mastering The World’s Smallest Violin and The Respirator are both phenomenal reggae songs built on the perfect upstrokes just like illScarlett although with slightly rougher vocals. Other times they forfeit the ska beat completely and go for a more straight forward punk attack, like Smoke Or Fire and A Wilhlem Scream with some Rancid thrown in there too.

The Great Awake is different compared to their debut, but a good different. It’s not what I expected, but that doesn’t hurt the album either. The album has a bit more of a personality this time, making it more memorable and less monotonous – and that’s always a good thing.