New Jersey’s The Gaslight Anthem came roaring onto the scene in 2007 with the release of their debut album ‘Sink Or Swim’. Fast forward seven years later, and they’re still stealing hearts with their alternative (and wonderfully slick) brand of punk rock. Along with the release of their latest album ‘Get Hurt’, this quartet is still relentless in their pursuit to own the world.
Taking influence from Pearl Jam’s 1996 ‘No Code’, ‘Get Hurt’ simply drips with haunting melodies right from the start. Tracks like ‘Stay Vicious’ and ‘Stray Paper’ are dominated by Brain Fallon’s crooning, silky vocals, while ‘Helter Skeleton’ contains those understated riffs that are still so incredibly powerful and pack a punch. ‘Ain’t That a Shame’ and ‘Red Violins’ burn with an intense strength that goes back to their punk rock roots.
It appears that a lot more of their tracks are more akin to that of Fallon’s side project, The Horrible Crowes. The lyrical content for this album seems to have become more dark, serious, and sombre, such as “I’d like to hear what you’d say to me if I was bulletproof and free again / Or what you’d shout if I was dead in ground and buried under another name?” from ‘Underneath the Ground’. And title track ‘Get Hurt’, which reflects just some of the hurt and anger that Fallon feels after the divorce from his wife of ten years, also contains Fallon’s bittersweet lyrics: “And it gets pretty late / And the stations will change / And the things once in order / Now seem so strange”.
Fallon warned that ‘Get Hurt’ would be a rather big and almost radical change from The Gaslight Anthem’s earlier work. Sadly, this isn’t true and the album still sounds a bit too much like their older albums, like ‘American Slang’ and ‘Handwritten’ – it’s a shame, as the band have written some great songs on this album.
However, with that in mind, it’s not at all difficult to see why ‘Get Hurt’ is a brilliant album, despite the lack of growth in terms of the band’s sound. With Fallon’s dramatic and powerful vocals breathing life into these lyrics, it does take a couple of listens to truly appreciate the work and passion that’s been poured into this album, so whatever you do, don’t shelve this album after the first listen.
JESS TAGLIANI