{"id":10505,"date":"2018-02-04T16:14:48","date_gmt":"2018-02-04T21:14:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.altwire.net\/?p=10505"},"modified":"2023-12-06T06:39:33","modified_gmt":"2023-12-06T11:39:33","slug":"album-review-awolnation-comes-runts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/fr\/album-review-awolnation-comes-runts\/","title":{"rendered":"[Album Review] AWOLNATION- Here Comes The Runts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Citing influences from the likes of\u00a0Michael Jackson<\/strong>\u00a0\u00e0\u00a0Madone<\/strong>, to\u00a0Prince\u00a0<\/strong>et\u00a0Nirvana<\/strong>, lead vocalist and frontman\u00a0Aaron Bruno<\/strong>\u2019s ever-shifting style throughout his many projects, consistently dropping older ideas in favor of a newer approach when possible, can perhaps best be described as similar behavior to the famous idiom, a \u2018moth drawn to the flame\u2019.\u00a0From punk rock 90s effort,\u00a0Insurgence<\/strong>, through to alt-rock groups\u00a0Home Town Hero<\/strong>\u00a0et\u00a0Under the Influence of Giants<\/strong>,\u00a0Bruno<\/strong>\u2019s continual search for a dedicated musical outlet finally grounded itself in 2010, in the form of\u00a0NATION D'AVENTURE<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Alors que\u00a0Aaron Bruno<\/strong>\u2019s continual experimentation and stylistic shifts has remained evident throughout debut and sophomore\u00a0NATION D'AVENTURE\u00a0<\/strong>releases,\u00a0Symphonie m\u00e9galithique\u00a0<\/em>in 2011, and\u00a0Courir\u00a0<\/em>in 2015, much of the group\u2019s output has typically pushed aside previous punk\/rock influences, in favor of the sounds and style far more akin to an electro-pop, electronic rock production. This being said, historically\u00a0NATION D'AVENTURE<\/strong>\u2019s roster of members is consistently shifting, leaving only\u00a0Bruno<\/strong>\u00a0as the central, founding member of the project. Alongside fresh faces\u00a0Issac Carpenter<\/strong>,\u00a0Zach Irons<\/strong>\u00a0et\u00a0Daniel Saslow<\/strong>\u00a0in the latest incarnation of the group, and the apparent cacophony of curiosity\u00a0Bruno<\/strong>\u2019s mindset often yields, it comes as little surprise that 2018 release,\u00a0Voici les avortons<\/em>, should once again completely deviate from the formula of old.<\/p>\n

Indeed, following multiple comments from\u00a0Bruno\u00a0<\/strong>that the latest\u00a0NATION D'AVENTURE\u00a0<\/strong>release would feature a markedly decisive shift into newer territory, title and opening track, \u2018Here Come The Runts\u2019, immediately establishes the record as a far more organic, acoustically driven effort. With an oddly hollowed percussion opening, \u2018Here Come The Runts\u2019 wastes little time to dive into an unusually charming combination of fuzzy bass stabs, encouraging horns, shifting time signatures, and low end galloping guitar riffage, not at all dissimilar to the likes of\u00a0Syst\u00e8me d'un Down<\/strong>'s\u00a0Daron Malakian<\/a><\/strong>. It\u2019s a strange, eccentric opening track, but happily establishes\u00a0Aaron Bruno<\/strong>\u2019s prerogative; this\u00a0isn\u2019t<\/em>\u00a0going to be what came before.<\/p>\n

If it\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0<\/em>obvious enough, following track and debut single, \u2018Passion\u2019, certainly makes it so; casually utilizing more receptive radio rock elements to boost the track\u2019s fun, lively vibe, it\u2019s a relatively straightforward track. What makes things more interesting is the fact that \u2018Passion\u2019 is twinned with following hip-hop<\/a> infused \u2018Sound Witness System\u2019, a sudden jarring shift in direction that enters something far more unsettling, ending with\u00a0Aaron Bruno\u00a0<\/strong>aggressively growling\u00a0\u201ca sound witness system, tweaking in your ear. A sound witness system tweaking in your, tweaking in your ear.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Une grande partie de\u00a0Here Comes The Runts<\/em>\u00a0follows a similar formula, entering one genre before immediately changing direction and going for something else entirely; \u2018Miracle Man\u2019 playfully leaps into an odd combination of modern alt-rock, mixed with the dance infused backbone and vocal style more akin to 60s disco and soul, while following track \u2018Handyman\u2019 immediately disregards this entirely for an acoustic pop-rock approach. Meanwhile, the subsequent \u2018Jealous Buffoon\u2019 easily stands as one of the album\u2019s most intriguing tracks;\u00a0Aaron Bruno<\/strong>\u2019s range on full display, \u2018Jealous Buffoon\u2019 sees light pop-rock vocals blended with gorgeous guitar textures, steady rock instrumentation, and some charmingly childish percussion that crops up throughout the track.<\/p>\n

And thus, the trend is continued until the end; the album happily skips along, from short and sweet acoustic interlude, \u2018A Little Luck and a Couple of Dogs\u2019, through to 70s punk rock-esque \u2018Cannonball\u2019. \u2018Tall, Tall Tale\u2019 steps into mid-tempo, classic rock territory, crunchy riffs and some of\u00a0Bruno<\/strong>\u2019s most aggressive vocals of the album on full display, while \u2018The Buffoon\u2019 poses just shy of two minutes eerie, strange instrumental, peppered with light synthesizer lines before gradually descending into an ominous pit of nothingness.<\/p>\n

Finale \u2018Stop That Train\u2019 acts as something of a multi-faceted ending to the journey, initially utilizing fairly run-of-the-mill rock instrumentation, before the time signature abruptly shifts;\u00a0Aaron Bruno<\/strong>\u2019s delivery morphing into haunting, reverb heavy vocals, beautiful strings enter the fray alongside\u00a0Zach Irons<\/strong>\u2019 glittering delayed guitar lines. It lasts for very little, however, as once again the track shifts itself into a galloping rock section similar to the title track, drummer\u00a0Issac Carpenter\u00a0<\/strong>charging forward with huge blasts alongside\u00a0Bruno<\/strong>\u2019s desperate roars of\u00a0\u201cstop that train, I want to get off. Stop that train, I want to get off.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Stylistically,\u00a0Voici les avortons<\/em>\u2019 wonderfully chaotic assortment of ideas and textures makes for an incredibly captivating, intriguing body of work, the endless experimentation bringing forward some truly magnificent results; highlights \u2018Miracle Man\u2019, \u2018Jealous Buffoon\u2019 and \u2018Stop That Train\u2019 all stand as perfect testaments to the rewards of doing things just a little bit differently.\u00a0Voici les avortons<\/em>\u2019 only true weakness coincides with its greatest strength, on occasion losing momentum in favor of an idea that perhaps doesn\u2019t quite come to fruition. That being said, the album is a gorgeous compilation of material, it\u2019s very inconsistencies being precisely what makes it so captivating, and whatever the future of\u00a0NATION D'AVENTURE\u00a0<\/strong>may be, describing\u00a0Voici les avortons<\/em>\u00a0as a \u2018magnum opus\u2019 really wouldn\u2019t be straying too far from the truth.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Citing influences from the likes of\u00a0Michael Jackson\u00a0to\u00a0Madonna, to\u00a0Prince\u00a0and\u00a0Nirvana, lead vocalist and frontman\u00a0Aaron Bruno\u2019s ever-shifting style throughout his many projects, consistently … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":10506,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","transcript_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1534],"class_list":["post-10505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews","tag-awolnation","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-50"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/75"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}