CKY

Carver City

Written by: PP on 02/06/2009 14:17:43

It's been four long years since the previous CKY full length album, and an even longer time since the band was associated with Camp Kill Yourself, the collection of retarded stunts by Bam Margera who once sent a tape to MTV. We all know what came out of that story (Jackass for those that don't), and the band rode on the coattails of the TV show success for a while as its music was used in some of the early shows. Since then, CKY has been crafting its own identity through a guitar-driven, groove-laden, quirky sound that has always been undeniably theirs and no-one elses - it's simply impossible to mistake the groovy guitars of CKY for another band. "Carver City", the bands new and fourth full length album, takes all this a step further by being the band's most ambitious album: the whole record is a semi autobiographical/conceptual album about a late 70's/early 80's seaside resort town near New Jersey, which has a history of bad luck and misfortune all the while giving the impression of being a pleasant family getaway.

Whether you'll get something out of that story is a matter of personal preference, but at least the undersigned has spent most of his time enjoying the groovy riffs and overall solid songs instead. Because instrumentally CKY simply continue mixing together hard rock, classic rock, and just straightforward mainstream rock the same way as they always have. I suppose the right way to describe CKY would be just to say that they're an alternative rock band in the sense of the 90s when the airwaves were full of bands of similar style. Lots of the album sounds pretty monotonous but not in a bad way, what I mean is that each song sounds like it's a quintessential CKY song. Variation does, however, exist on "Carver City". "Rats In The Infirmary" is about as angry as CKY gets, as it is full of that silent rage that can barely be heard in the voice of Deron Miller's voice. "Woe Is Me" has a pretty dramatic chorus for CKY standards. "The Boardwalk Body" on the other hand is probably the best song on the CD, and one of the rare ones which includes some post-hardcore styled screaming at the end of a few vocal lines. Otherwise it has a great chorus and a bouncy guitar line that captures the listener straight away. It sounds like stuff from 2002's "Infiltrate*Destroy*Rebuild" but not really, perhaps the songs here sound a little more relevant.

In the end there's not much else to say about a CKY album than to talk about how extremely guitar 'n' groove-driven it is in comparison to most other alt rock records being put out today. The quirky guitar distortion will still keep polarizing music fans, as some love it to bits and others just can't stand it. It's safe to say that "Carver City" won't convert you into the CKY cult (Here I'm thinking of CKY Alliance), but if you were already a fan, this is more of the good stuff with the added element of a storyline that you can follow once you've got enough of just the riffs and catchy choruses.

7

Download: The Boardwalk Body, Hellions On Parade, Woe Is Me
For the fans of: Turbonegro, Clutch, Viking Skull, HIM, Alien Ant Farm
Listen: Myspace

Release date 19.05.2009
Roadrunner

Related Items | How we score?
Comments
comments powered by Disqus

Legal

© Copyright MMXXIV Rockfreaks.net.