Screeching Weasel Is Just As Good As Ever On New Album, The Awful Disclosures of Screeching Weasel
4.6 out of 5 stars
I have been a fan of Screeching Weasel since I was about 11 or 12 years old, and while I will say that some of the personal stuff that goes on with Ben Foster (a.k.a. Ben Weasel) makes it a bit hard to keep the band in a positive light overall, I can say that only on a few occasions have I ever felt the music suffered due to it (most notably the Baby Fat: Act I album).
The band keeps making pretty good music (if you have the acquired taste for the band, that is) regardless of all the shit storms that seem to come their way.
Of course, it should be mentioned that Foster has essentially either alienated or replaced every member of the band including longtime collaborator and band co-founder John “Jughead” Pierson.
So, yeah, there have been a slew of ups and downs, and I won’t pretend to know exactly what the reasons were for the issues over the years, but I can say that I am glad that over the last two SW albums that the sound has come back around to what I know and love of the Screeching Weasel sound I grew up on.
The new album The Awful Disclosures of Screeching Weasel is another hit in a long line of good albums.
The first 3 songs on the album are a good mix of songs, and I like them all, but it wasn’t until I heard the song “My Favorite Nightmare” that I KNEW this album was going to be really good.
It is everything a classic SW album has including catchy hooks, simple lead guitar lines, fast pace and a ton of melodic harmony throughout.
The next song “Just Another Fool” is another good one on the album. It seems like any of the songs that talk more about relationships are always better, but I am not exactly sure why. Maybe more effort is put into the melody or something.
I mentioned in an Instagram story that this was my favorite Screeching Weasel album since Television City Dream, but I made the mistake of forgetting that Emo was actually released the year after TCD. So, yeah, I think it is my favorite since Emo.
That’s not to say I didn’t like Some Freaks of Atavism…I just always forget about it. It’s still pretty damn good itself, and probably on par with this album for overall quality. So, basically, SW is 2 for 2 in the last 2 years for releasing good albums which is hard to say for most aging punk bands.
“Kill To Cure” offers a bit of rest with a more technical, less poppy song that showcases the band has some range and isn’t just a 3-chord pop-punk heavyweight.
And just to cement their place in that 3-chord, pop-punk heavyweight status, the song “All Stitched Up” showcases their full glory of why fans (and myself) still love the music.
A couple other highlights on the album for me personally are “Pandora’s Eyes” and “Hey Diana” which are classic songs. I feel like I have been singing them for years, but they are new songs that just sound incredibly familiar.
For those of you who are SW fans from before the album Bark Like a Dog, you will also get some songs like “Dead Alive” and “Gates Lift High Your Heads“ that rock in a way these Ramones disciples were able to gain notoriety for in the first place.
The new lineup consisting of Ben Weasel (vocals), Mike Hunchback (guitar), Mike Kennerty (guitar/vocals), Zach Brandner (bass), and Pierre Marchie (drums) seems to be getting to a place where the band is solid for now and able to put out a good quality set of songs each time out.
It makes me happy to see that the music lives on. Of course, I would prefer to have Jughead back in the mix. I am not sure that will ever be possible again though.