Customer Reviews

Crash Diagnostic

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the third, last, and worst Discount album. That's not to say it's a bad album -- it's tighter, slicker, and a bit more adventurous than their previous work.

Their first, Ataxia's All Right, is simple, pop-punk done to it's most intelligent, exuberant, best. Their second, Half Fiction, showed them growing up, learning to play, and writing more complex but still catchy songs. In this last one, they begin to stretch a bit farther than their talents allow. In particular, this album seems to suffer from a more D.C./Fugazi influenced sound that just doesn't work. It's a tolerable album, but not the note that they should have gone out on. Start with Half Fiction, if you want to hear them at their best, and then come back to this one if you must.

It would be easy for Discount to be written off a novelty band or for them to keep remaking the same albums, but each album shows the band changing and improving. Girl singer, boy singer, emo or punk, this is one of the best things I've heard in a long time. Not as poppy as earlier efforts but that just means you just to hear the band tackling new sounds. This is so damn good.

I have a hulking bias when it comes to this album. Too much nostalgia to list, but anyway... Now that I threw that out there, I'm going to claim that this is Discount's masterpiece. Dig?
The way I see it, each Discount album is better than the last. No, not the most objective terminology, but give them a listen in chronological order and you'll see what I mean. Ataxia was great, relatively straight forward pop-punk. Half Fiction up'd the pop element by throwing in plenty of hooks guided by Alison's (now louder in the mix) vocals, all while retaining their core stylings.
Crash Diagnostic marks not so much as stylistic shift, but moreso an added dimension to their sound. The simple song structures of old have become more complex and textured, reminiscent of Fugazi's later work, and Alison's vocals, while always fantastic, are leagues above in terms of variation and emotional power. Hell, she even pulls off a decent Guy Piccotto impression in a few tracks.
Standout tracks: couldn't choose... if you want a feel for this album though, download Broken To Blue, Math Won't Miss You, and Black And White Can't Capture Red And Blue. It's a perfect album, it just may not seem like it at first.

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It's been 3 years since someone reviewed this CD? Huh. It's easily one of the best punk CDs of the past 10 years. Visceral, fun, angry, and GOOD.

Yeah, it's a drag they're gone. Pity.