Stories of Survival
Hey All,
So I found a copy of Authority Zero’s new album “Stories of Survival” and gave it a listen. Read on if you’d like to see what I thought.
Authority Zero is releasing their new album entitled Stories of Survival on June 22nd. I happened across a demo of it (don’t worry I’ve preordered and paid for a real copy) and gave it a few listens. The album consists of 11 songs being: “The New Pollution”, “A Day to Remember”, “Brick in The Wave”, “Get It Right”, “Big Bad World”, “Break The Mold”, “Crashland”, “Liberated Education”, “Movement”, “The Remedy” and “ No Way Home”. I’ll break these songs down below.
“The New Polution”: The album begins with Winston Churchill’s “Blood Sweat Tears and Toil” speech and segues into a SoCal/Pennywise feel of a song. I dig the clarity with which Zach plays on this track. The song seems very upbeat and would be good for driving.
“A Day to Remember”: This song has Rise Against feel to it. I dig Jason’s line about “10,000 feet in the air”. It reminds me of being on all the planes back in the day though He probably was referring to snowboarding.
“Brick in the Wave”: This song has a definite Authority Zero stamp to it. It reminds me of a slowed down version of Sky’s the Limit meets Courage. It has an excellent acoustic break down reminiscent of Courage and is sprinkled with Handsonic elements via Ryan Greene. I would not be surprised to see this released as a radio single.
“Get It Right”: I like this song because all of the players get to showcase their abilities. Jeremy gets to play his bass a la “revolution”. Zach has some sick classic rock feeling leads. Zach always had a Jefe feel to his leads, I love it. Jason experiments with the range of his voice and Jim glues it all together.
“Big Bad World”: This song is the typical chillin’ song. Cool reggae. Kind of reminds me of The Expendables, RX Bandits and Matisyahu. I love the harmonies on the track. Zach, Jeremy and Jason have a good mixture of timbres.
“Break The Mold”: This is a cool pit song. It a bit slower than Authority Zero’s previous pit songs but it’ll do the trick. The thing I loved most about this track was the cool Arabic breakdown. Ethnic music was always a key for Authority Zero’s success.
“Crashland”: Starting out with Morse Code it is Authority Zero’s anthem on the album. It reminds me of “War’s End” by Rancid meets “Taking on the World”. Some tempo changes and Zach’s leads make it a memorable song.
“Liberated Education”: Starting out with a phaser intro then breaking into a Pennywise/Rise Against feel of a song, it once again will get ya’ pumped. I love the reggae breakdown and cool harmonies on the leads. It also retains the Authority Zero stamp, bearing much resemblance to “Madman”.
“Movement”: I’m really diggin’ this track. It has a great dancehall feel and I love the call and response between guitar and vocals. The tone and nuances remind me of Homegrown’s track “Surfer Girl”. One of my favorite tracks!
“The Remedy”: This is by far my favorite track. Its tempo changes a bit. There are plenty of sticky hooks and great guitar work. The bass and drums weave in and out in unison and Jason’s voice is best suited to this type of song. A+!!
“No Way Home”: This track kicks back to an Old Skool SoCal feel. The most memorable part of the song is the bridge toward the end of the song. Jeremy throws down a bass line that brings me back to jammin’ “Dawn Patrol” by Megadeth.
Alrighty!!! That’s my take… now preorder this album or buy it on June 22nd. I highly recommend it.
Authority Zero
Cheers, Bill
