The Carolyn Breakthrough with New Indie Rock Standout Album Rhythm Of My Own Decay
4.7 out of 5 stars
The Carolyn is a pretty new rock act out of Atlanta, Georgia that is a bit like Taking Back Sunday mixed with some punk roots in the vein of bands like Rise Against and The Menzingers.
Their new album Rhythm Of My Own Decay is a great example of a maturing young band though.
At 8 songs, it is also short enough to probably be consider a long EP as well as a short LP, but you don't find any wasted songs on this album, in my opinion.
It’s not just the subject matter that seems a bit more mature, but even the sound of the album is more well put together than their past endeavors (which were pretty good as well).
The album cracks off with “The Apiarist” which has to be some sort of unnamed connection to the character(s) of the song, because it doesn’t have anything to do with beekeeping as far as I can tell. However, the song rocks pretty hard, and has a sort of personal nature to the narrative that makes it easy to connect with.
“Munchausen By Praxis” is the second song on the album as well as the newest single off the album. It is an absolute rocker of a song as well. The guitar breakdown riffs are very common in emo/indie rock, and they use it to their advantage. The song comes out as an anthemic singalong mixed with heartfelt emocore.
The third song is “Spirits, Spilled Modelo, And The Sound of Cuban Salsa Bands.” It’s another uptempo, high-energy song that starts off a little subdued, but kicks into a rocking chorus. There is a bit of a breakdown in this song that allows for a no-build crescendo (if that makes any sense) that goes back into the chorus. Usually, you kind of have a build up that goes back into the chorus, but this song has the breakdown going directly back into the chorus. Keeps the song flowing without filler.
“Casi Infinito” is a song that sounds a LOT bigger and deeper than the rest of the album, but it is the shortest song on the album at 1:18, and as soon as you get into it, the song is ending. It’s an interesting way to keep the listener wanting more.
There aren’t many songs on this album that sound as much like their previous albums, but the song “DSFT” definitely has their old sound alive and well. It’s a bit more Rise Against sounding as well.
I don’t want to say that the band’s sound has wholly changed or anything, but it has definitely evolved in subtle ways (as young bands should). Many bands start out sounding like other bands only to find their own sound after a couple of years. The Carolyn seem to be fallen into their own groove really well on this album.
“Webs” is definitely an emo-singalong song that has everything you want in a good indie rock song - good chorus to sing to, good riffs and beats, and a good story.
The second first single off this album was the song “Snake vs Rat” which seems to be a confrontational song about being betrayed by a friend, and I am always a sucker for a good drum fill intro like this song has. The song is pretty fast compared to their other songs, but it’s not speed punk or anything like that.
The biggest single off the album so far is definitely the last song on the album “99 Problems, 0 Caveats” which has many more views on YouTube than their other videos, but it also has a bit of a humorous video. It’s also the most “dance” ready song on the album as well. It 100% reminds me of the uptempo punk anthems of the band Midtown. I can’t say enough good things about this song. It is absolutely one of the best songs of the year in any rock category.