Related Artists: Roam, Sleep On It, Boston Manor
Favorite Picks: The Handwritten Letter, The Reaper, The Two Tongues (Screaming Salvation)
Rating: 4/5
British pop-punk band As It Is have been slowly rising in the ranks with their first two records and have shattered their pop-punk image with their highly anticipated conceptual third record, The Great Depression. The record tackles the issues of mental illnesses and how society views them through the protagonist The Poet who comes face-to-face with Death. Lead vocalist, Patty Walters, notes that this record is more about asking questions than it does trying to give answers.
Naturally, the best way to listen to this record is from start to finish in order so that you can get the full impact of the story being told. They take you through four of the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, and acceptance with depression being the fifth stage that I believe to be the overall theme of the record. You can definitely hear the story being told to the “consumer” and hear the pain the Poet is agonizing over as he makes the decision to either stay or accept Death’s eternal offer.
This record is a much darker tone musically and lyrically for this band and the amount of risk they took coming out of their comfort zone is truly commendable. The styling and tone is very reminiscent of early 2000’s emo, a la My Chemical Romance, and it’s such a stark difference from their normal look and tone. This record had a more straightforward rock approach with bits of pop punk sprinkled throughout that helped keep the old As It Is firmly in place. The only real negative this record has is that Walters’ writing can come off somewhat cheesy and cliche in some moments. Overall, the writing seems to be genuine and gives a good look into how important it is to talk about mental health in a serious manner.
Easily one of the best tracks is “The Handwritten Letter” that is placed in the “Anger” stage. This track focuses on the affects the Poet is encountering while craving reassurance that things will be okay from someone. This continues in “The Truth I’ll Never Tell” (Bargaining stage) with worrying that he will bring anyone he tells of his problems down with him, thus repeating the toxic cycle. “The Reaper”, featuring Underoath’s Aaron Gillipsie, is a perfect example of when these guys take their influences in the post-hardcore genre and really hone them in, that they can pull something to this extent off almost flawlessly.
The only other complaint with this record is the unfortunate title track that sets up the entire story. While “The Great Depression” has a decent chorus, there isn’t much else about the out of place synthetic undercuts that do much for this record. It could easily have been taken out, re-recorded and transitioned easily into “The Wounded World”, but instead seems to be trying too hard.
Overall, this was a really successful record from start to finish. With a little fine tuning this could have been a complete knock-out due to the relevance of the material and the stunning amount of dedication.
Be sure to check out The Great Depression on Spotify, and Apple Music!
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