A deeper look at the grooves pressed into 45 Adapters’ Unstoppable LP. After having released a series of records of different sizes and speeds since the band formed in 2008 (to date, the band has released six EPs, splits and singles), it’s kind of funny when one realizes that Unstoppable is only the second full-length album which bears 45 Adapters’ name; they just always seem to be working on promoting something, so that their output includes just two full-length albums is unbelievable. Equally unbelievable is the height of the quality of the lion’s share of the songs on Unstoppable – from front to back, the album features a dozen cuts, many of which are the sort which can start a sense of undying appreciation in those who hear them.
The high quality of the music that 45 Adapters has made for Unstoppable starts to become evident as soon as needle catches groove on the album’s A-side when its’ title track opens it; there, while the guitars and bass seem to play a little behind the drums, the vocals are right on top of the beat and so cause listeners to follow every word as closely as they follow the snap of the snare drum. That it calls listeners to attention is without question but, wisely, the band’s call in the song only lasts for the song’s two-and-a-half minute duration; that way, it’s able energizing instead of leaching power away from the performance.
With the precedent set by “Unstoppable,” the A-side simply tries to keep the exact same kind of sentiments and energy running, and it achieves that goal very well. “Coming Up Empty” does far better than its name implies as, with lines like, “We spend money we don’t have on things we don’t need/ Worship politicians, worship celebrities” issue a harsh indictment of the current cultural fascination with political tribalism. The side slips a little when “But I Can’t” forgets to include some overdrive on the guitars (which leaves the cut playing lean and far less effectively than anyone would like), but regains the ground it lost when “86400” speeds its way along with a really cute bass line in the driver’s seat and ”Save The Day” finally adds some overdrive and gives the guitars just the right amount of crunch. There too, singer Carlos Congote keeps his vocals acutely melodic, but steers away from Glenn Danzig and closer to Greg Graffin’s style – which helps to reset how the songs play overall.
While it might have seemed like 45 Adapters took an unreasonably long time to find a rhythm to fall into on the A-side (the band didn’t hit the same spot twice – choosing instead to test drive a different sound and style for every cut), the band sounds like they’re finally getting comfortable when “Guilty By Participation” comes up to close the side. There, the band hits a really slick and smooth stride as Congote laments the price of consequences that he found in his youth (but does not number here), and ends up implying a sense of regret as well as a sense of resignation in so doing. Granted, it could be argued that the vaguery with which Congote delivers these lanes basically takes a long time to say very little, but the song plays well and, when it ends, the result is that listeners won’t have time to think long about whether they have the desire to flip the record over to see where this drama might be headed, they’ll just do it.
…And, while critics likely won’t have trouble questioning if the juice was worth the squeeze, true believers won’t have to work hard to find some things to love on the B-side of Unstoppable. While the ska flavoring in “Refuse To Die” leaves something to be desired (some voices simply sound wooden when they try to sing ska, and Congote’s is one of them), “Bent & Broken” finds a great way to get the instruments and the vocal melody to work together, and transfers that strength to “Con Man From Queens” too. In fact, it could easily be argued that the chord progression in the song and the performance of it are the best on the album.
Of course, as soon as anyone characterizes any cut on an album as, “the best on the album,” every return thereafter will seem diminished. In the case of Unstoppable, “Those Who Quit” just drags along ineffectually for just under two minutes without leaving any kind of positive impression before “Are You Down” romanticizes the smell of death over a pretty good pop punk progression, but it just comes far too late to matter. By then, Congote has already run his clearly limited energy levels out – and the last two and a half minutes of the album’s running are spent by listeners just trying to give the band enough respect and listen to them run their muse out – even if they’re not sure if it’s actually worth while. Honestly, that’s one of the greatest problems with Unstoppable both in the late playing and as a whole: on shorter releases (EPs, singles) 45 Adapters have illustrated that they’re capable of producing great music – they’ve just consistently come up short on longer-form releases. That’s a shame, but it doesn’t make it any less true – and Unstoppable is unfortunate proof of that. Here’s hoping that the band returns to something more succinct soon. [Bill Adams]
Artist:
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Album:
45 Adapters’ Unstoppable LP is out now. Buy it here, directly from Pirates Press Records.
