Career Suicide (album)
Career Suicide, released on October 9, 2007 through Nitro Records, is the third studio album from the Massachusetts based melodic hardcore band A Wilhelm Scream.
Career Suicide | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by | ||||
Released | October 9, 2007 | |||
Recorded | 2007, at The Blasting Room, Fort Collins, Colorado | |||
Genre | Punk rock, melodic hardcore | |||
Length | 35:00 | |||
Label | Nitro | |||
Producer | Bill Stevenson, Jason Livermore | |||
A Wilhelm Scream chronology | ||||
|
Release
On August 9, 2007, Career Suicide was announced for release, and the album's track listing was revealed.[1] In August, the band supported Strung Out on their North American tour.[2] "The Horse" and "These Dead Streets" were posted on the band's Myspace on October 2.[3] The album was released on October 9.[4] In October, the group went on a US tour with Only Crime and The Swellers.[3] On October 25, "Die While We're Young" was made available for free download via Fuse's website.[5] On October 30, a music video was released for "Die While We're Young" via Alternative Press.[6] In November and December, the band went on tour alongside the Fall of Troy and Schoolyard Heroes.[7] Following a UK tour, the band toured across the US in March and April 2008 alongside the Unseen.[8] On April 1, a music video was released for "I Wipe My Ass with Showbiz". According to Alternative Press, the video "takes a shot at fashioned-obsessed music business executives".[9] The band made an appearance at The Fest.[10] On December 31, the band posted an outtake from the recording sessions, "The I Hate ___ Club", on their Myspace. Vocalist/guitarist Trevor Reilly said it was "easily in my top three of the Career Suicide session songs. Why was it left off the record you ask? Bill [Stevenson] and Jason [Livermore] said 'no hate club or route 40 on the record' and we said 'ok.'"[11] In January and February 2009, the band supported Streetlight Manifesto on their headlining tour of the US.[12]
Music
A Wilhelm Scream made a conscious effort to abandon certain elements of their album Ruiner when writing Career Suicide. The band dropped many of the emo and post hardcore elements entirely. They also decided to forgo writing any slow or mid-tempo songs for the album, instead focusing on speed. Guitarist/vocalist Trevor Reilly mentioned that the goal of the band was to create a relentless album that would not have any "breaks" like their previous two albums had. As a result several songs on Career Suicide are shorter than two minutes in length and the tempos are significantly faster compared to A Wilhelm Scream's previous albums. The album's overall sound is closer to skate punk than melodic hardcore, but is still considered highly progressive and technical for the genre.
Career Suicide was the debut album for bassist Brian Robinson with A Wilhelm Scream. Reilly would go on to say in later interviews that the album would not have been possible without Robinson's bass playing. He would go on to compare Robinson's introduction to the band as similar to Travis Barker's arrival in Blink 182; Robinson's bass playing was so advanced that Reilly himself, drummer Nick Angelini, and guitarist Chris Levesque felt inspired to be more proficient at their instruments and write more complex rhythms and riffs. This allowed A Wilhelm Scream to maintain their signature technical style while playing faster and shorter songs. Robinson also inspired Reilly to further his lead guitar playing and play more solos on Career Suicide, something that the guitarist first experimented with on Ruiner. The bassist himself also added several solos of his own on songs such as "The Horse", "Jaws 3, People 0", and "Check Request Denied".
Career Suicide contains the longest song they have written to date (We Built This City...On Debts and Booze).
Reception
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AbsolutePunk.net | (88%) [13] |
Europunk.net | |
Punknews.org | |
Rockfreaks.net | |
Sputnikmusic | |
Alternative Press |
It received mostly favorable reviews.
It was also voted the best album of 2007 by Punknews.org readers.[18]
Track listing
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "I Wipe My Ass With Showbiz" | 1:05 |
2. | "5 to 9" | 2:39 |
3. | "The Horse" | 4:53 |
4. | "Die While We're Young" | 2:32 |
5. | "Jaws 3, People 0" | 2:40 |
6. | "Career Suicide" | 1:35 |
7. | "These Dead Streets" | 2:16 |
8. | "Get Mad, You Son of a Bitch!" | 3:55 |
9. | "Our Ghosts (Contemporary/Consensual)" | 2:11 |
10. | "Cold Slither II" | 2:20 |
11. | "Pardon Me, Thanks a Lot" | 1:32 |
12. | "Check Request Denied" | 1:52 |
13. | "We Built This City! (On Debts and Booze)" | 5:36 |
Total length: | 35:00 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
14. | "Route 40 One Six" | 1:59 |
Total length: | 36:59 |
Videos
- On September 17, 2007 the final cut of the video for the song "5 to 9" was released via the Nitro Records webpage.[19]
- On October 31, 2007 a video for the song "Die While We're Young" was released via the Nitro Records webpage. The video features footage from the band's recent European tour.
- A video shooting for the song "I Wipe My Ass With Showbiz" was announced in a Myspace bulletin that detailed the video being shot at an undisclosed location, as well as at a show in Manchester, UK. This video was released on March 31, 2008 through the band's blog on MySpace.
Personnel
- A Wilhelm Scream
- Nuno Pereira - Vocals
- Trevor Reilly - Lead Guitar, vocals
- Christopher Levesque - Guitar
- Brian J. Robinson - Bass guitar, Vocals
- Nicholas Pasquale Angelini - Drums
- Artwork
- Cover Career Suicide and Cock Fight paintings by Ryan Levesque.
- Rhino v. Piranha by Derek Deal www.derekdeal.com.
- Squid v. Whale v. Cheney by Jamie Despres.
- Alligator v. Cats by Kate Ouellette.
- Cobra v. Mongoose and Monkey Knife Fight by JRTMCP.
- Layout and Design by JRTMCP www.jrtmcp.com.
- Photography by Emily Walter www.futurereference.org.
- Production
- Bill Stevenson – Producer, engineer
- Jason Livermore – Producer, engineer, mixing, mastering
- Jason Allen, Andrew Berlin, Johnny Schou, Mark Sturdevant – Additional engineering
- Sean Ziebarth - A&R
- Joe Reilly & Jonathan Teves - Pre-Production
Charts
- Album
Chart (2007) | Peak position |
---|---|
Top Heatseekers | 33 |
References
- "AP Exclusive: Details on new A Wilhelm Scream album revealed". Alternative Press. Alternative Press Magazine, Inc. August 9, 2007. Retrieved March 18, 2017.
- "Strung Out touring with A Wilhelm Scream, I Am Ghost". Alternative Press. June 29, 2007. Archived from the original on August 28, 2016. Retrieved August 25, 2016.
- "A Wilhelm Scream post new songs, tour dates with Only Crime". Alternative Press. Alternative Press Magazine, Inc. October 2, 2007. Retrieved March 19, 2017.
- "A Wilhelm Scream to release Career Suicide on October 9, 2007." Punknews.org. August 10, 2007.
- "A Wilhelm Scream post new track to download". Alternative Press. Alternative Press Magazine, Inc. October 25, 2007. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
- "AP Exclusive: Watch the new video from A Wilhelm Scream!". Alternative Press. Alternative Press Magazine, Inc. October 30, 2007. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
- "The Fall Of Troy plan December dates w/A Wilhelm Scream". Alternative Press. Alternative Press Magazine, Inc. October 23, 2007. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
- "A Wilhelm Scream announce UK, US tours". Alternative Press. Alternative Press Magazine, Inc. January 7, 2008. Archived from the original on 2017-07-28. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
- "A Wilhelm Scream deliver new video". Alternative Press. Alternative Press Magazine, Inc. April 1, 2008. Retrieved July 9, 2017.
- "The Fest announces bands: Less Than Jake, Dillinger Four, Strike Anywhere, Atom And His Package". Alternative Press. Alternative Press Magazine, Inc. August 28, 2008. Retrieved July 24, 2017.
- "A Wilhelm Scream post unreleased song". Alternative Press. Alternative Press Magazine, Inc. December 31, 2008. Retrieved July 30, 2017.
- "Streetlight Manifesto / A Wilhelm Scream / The Swellers / The Stitch Up tour announced". Alternative Press. Alternative Press Magazine, Inc. December 16, 2008. Retrieved July 30, 2017.
- AbsolutePunk.net review
- Europunk.net review
- Punknews.org review
- Rockfreaks.net review
- Sputnikmusic review
- "Your favorite albums of 2007." Punknews.org. December 31, 2007.
- "5 to 9 Video from A Wilhelm Scream." Nitrorecords.com. September 17, 2007.