Ontario, Canada’s Among Legends Puts Out High Energy Punk Rock Debut Album Take Good Care
4.6 out of 5 stars
The debut album Take Good Care from Ontario, Canada punk band Among Legends showcases the bands maturity of 6 years of hard work putting out EP’s to this point that has culminated in a fantastic release that highlights the band’s uptempo and uplifting music.
Their sound is very melodic punk sounding with great hooks, lyrics and instrumentation that has range and depth.
Right off the bat, “Five Years” comes out and fires fast beats and strong melodies. A great starter song, but honestly, there are so many good songs that could be the first song on the album, it’s hard to imagine the track list process here.
The third single off the album, “Magnolia” is another example of infectious melodies. The song tries to showcase the reality of relationships where there isn’t always a major catalyst for the ending.
Singer Mitchell Buchannan mentioned his motive for the song in their presser:
"I've never bought into the version of breakups that we usually see in movies or hear in songs: dramatic, messy, one person clearly to blame. Magnolia looks at the bittersweet version of a relationship ending - the idea that sometimes people simply grow apart, even when they're good together."
“Come Up Swinging” is a highly anthemic song that will have you bouncing in your chair or tapping your foot while humming the chorus by the end of the song. It’s also a perfect example of the band’s positive as it flips the cliche of “going down swinging” when things are going bad, this is the fighting back version of that concept which is a lot more hopeful.
The band has an attitude that seems to make music seem easier or more fun to make than bands that may take the songwriting process too seriously. That’s not to say the band has nothing to say or that the music isn’t good. It just seems like it might come with less effort as the resulting songs flow very easily even with a decent amount of timing changes throughout the album.
“11/13/18” is a good example of this. It is probably the most technically difficult song on the album with just about every conceivable tool in a punk rock band’s arsenal on display here including a chanting gang vocals refrain during the bridge.
The album picks right back up on the next song, “Baywatch,” which is probably the fastest song on the album, and will rock your damn face off. I assume it is the first side on the B side of the LP as well. Oh, and it’s only one-minute long. So, it is over as soon as it begins.
The song “Greyhound” features a pretty good duet as Carried Away vocalist, Madison Crombie, provides guest vocals on the track. The song has some pretty heavy rock riffs that create some great “jump-around moments” in the song as well.
“Rigged” is a bit of a change of pace song as it has about 2 minutes of spoken word poetry within the song, and it has a lot of adventuring with the rest of the instruments during the song until it comes back in later in the song.
“Manifesto” is definitely the classic punk rock sounding anthem. It would fit perfectly in a Bad Religion album or just as easily in The Dropkick Murphys catalogue.
The 5-piece band is on full display with the song “Monochrome,” in my opinion. Each player has some of their best moments on this song. Drummer Sara Fellin really kicks the shit of the bass drum. Both guitarists (Cameron Bechtloff and Tyler Boles) and bassist Anthony Amorim create a really cool sonic dynamic in the breakdown part of the song. I also think the lyrics are some of the strongest on the album. Also, it is a pretty succinct song that doesn’t have too much wiggle in it that makes it very tight sounding.
The album ends on just an absolutely bombastic song in “Highrise.” This is equally good as a starter song as a final song, but I think the lyrics make this song fit really well at the end, and the final line makes a great ending statement with, “I guess I’ll see you around.”
And just like that you have one of the best pop-punk albums of the year.