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 | OskerIdle Will Kill2001 Epitaph 
 Review by: John Benjamin See others by this writer Osker Official Site (link) Only registered users can post comments 
 
Published on June 6th 2001
What can you expect from the band labeled as the most hated act on Epitaph? The world is a carousel of people who don’t know what the hell they are talking about. With this in mind, Osker receives criticism from lemmings who are determined to slam the band because of their reputation. Kids don’t know Devon Williams (vocals, guitar) personally, yet they feel security and freedom to call him an asshole. Furthermore, some people receive a sense of accomplishment by writing “your bands sucks” on the Osker messageboard, a mature act which must not go unnoted. However, these actions are more of a reflection of the trivial lives some people lead rather than the quality of the music Osker makes. Don’t be lead astray by the “most hated” tag. Although Devon’s cynicism and brutal honesty can get him in trouble from time to time, that’s no reason to overlook Idle Will Kill. Treatment 5, their first album on Epitaph, was a solid recording driven by honest lyrics written with a degree of cynicism and anger that can be related to. Treatment 5 can be characterized as fast, angry, and snotty. With Idle Will Kill, Osker proves they know the meaning of punk rock: doing what you want without worrying about how people have pigeonholed you. Idle Will Kill has more melody, intricacies, substance, and sophistication to it than Treatment 5; it is not the fast noise thrashing Osker that people have become accustomed to. Some fans have already noted the difference in albums, and if they approve of it or not, Osker doesn’t care; the objective of a band is to progress, not to re-record the same album over and over. The first song, Patience, Devon’s voice sings over an acoustic guitar, “When were you schooled in technicalities? I didn’t know I made friends with fucking rock critics.” It’s the same honest Devon, with a piano, compliments of bass player Dave Benitez, lulling in the background. It’s a hooky song that clocks under two minutes, and gives a taste of Idle of Kill.If I had to label Idle Will Kill, I would call it a pop-punk album. However, this is not the same predictable listener friendly pop-punk with meaningless lyrics that MTV has been attempting to commercialize. It’s the same pop-punk in the vein of Dillinger Four (just replace the political songs with teenage angst ones) strewn with lyrics of wit, sarcasm, cynicism, anger, honesty, and sincerity. The songs that stand-out are Strangled, Contention, Motionless, Kinetic, and Disconnect Disconnect. Contention is one of the best songs I’ve heard in a while with a hell of a catchy chorus. Kinetic and Disconnect Disconnect are songs which prove Osker as musicians for those already not convinced. Credit deserves to go to producer Mike Trujillo just as much as Osker. The album sounds great with crisp instrument integration and some vocal manipulations. Trujillo also produced stuff by Choking Victim, which should prove to be some kind of validation for those who feel they have the authority to decide what punk is and is not. All in all, Idle Will Kill is a great album; a must for 2001. People who liked this also liked:           Please login or register to post comments. What are the benefits of having a Punknews.org account?
amazing album! An absolutely wonderfull album.. all the songs are good, the lyrics are witty, the honesty spills out of the speakers.. one of the best records I know. this cd is amazing I am still listening to this record. maybe my favorite record of all time. its up there Killer Killer album this album fucking rocks. seriously. Great record. One of my favs of all time. It's been a while since I've written about how much I love this (almost a year). But it is still so fantastic!! I love Devon's voice so much. It is a lyrical marvel each time I listen to this and I highly recommend it. My all time favourite album behind At the Drive-in:RoC and Bad Religion-All Ages FANTASTIC......Iagree with the post below, this was the album of 2001 I love Osker. I love how they use big words in there songs and in real life. They make themselves out to be such assholes, yet they are intellegent assholes. Hats off to them, both albums are great, and they can probably eat other people or something now. Just because it's not mainstream doesn't mean you have to hate it, Rory. don't worry folks, i will take care of the pitiful Rory soon enough.- fathead House record? What the fuck? Get a fucking life! Both of you are full of shit! How can you confuse the get up kids with osker? The get up kids are clearly an agent orange ripoff band. Osker's almost dance music. We're talking completly different genres here. Larry- I can sort of see where you're coming from with the Punkerham Lincoln thing, but seriously, have you heard the third song on the CD? I swear to god it's exactly like this Get Up Kids song only the lyrics are slightly changed...I can't believe they stole a song from the Get Up Kids, fuckin' NOBODY fucks with the Get Up Kids, they're hardcore. Osker must have some serious balls to dare to fuck with those guys, either that or they're stupid as hell. Most likely the latter. These guys just stole all there songs from Punkerham Lincoln! Am I right? Of course I am. kick ass, definatelt the best album i've bought this year, lot of competition over hwm, alkline trio, and grade and such, but his lyrics are so awesome, and his weird voice. not really 1 super great song, but the album in its self, the way everything's put together, they're the best I think this might be one of the highest rated albums on this site...and it fucking deserves it. Phenomenal. this's a sweet album. i dont know why people hate them, they dont know what devon means by what he says. its just like how the government hits on rap (which i dont like anyways but it's still wrong) people just have different ways of expressing they're ideas. but, other than that, there's only like 1 song on here that isn't that good. they could change the way they do some of they're stuff, like in motionless, i've never liked groups saying "yeah" as a filler, so parts like that r weak. but they're lyrics r pretty damn cool, and it sounds awesome, no matter how deep ur intrest or style of punk, i'd recommend this to anyone. this is a good fuckin album Man osker fucking rocks!!!! i love those guys and fuck all those stupid-ass kidss that don't like them... They don't know shit about good music!!! I love Osker. I love how they use big words in there songs and in real life. They make themselves out to be such assholes, yet they are intellegent assholes. Hats off to them, both albums are great, and they can probably eat other people or something now. Best album of the year so far there new album i believe is just as good as treatment 5. i cant wait to see these guys on the 9th. i saw them a year back on punk o rama, and talked to them afterwards, they are really unique, they dont really care at all what people think, they do what they want to do, which is what you are supposed to I bought this albumn before the european release, off ebay. And loved it. it is one of my fav cds. And I have treatment 5 too, and liked that alot also. After hearing the huge change, i wasn't disappointed the slightest. I commented on the osker message board that new albumn allows osker to build on a new sound, the treatment 5 albumn was great though the sound was so familiar and easily done. Idle will kill, brings a new piece of the puzzle to build upon and really strengthen into something. You know? Anyways I will be their on the 23rd in san francisco with Union 13 and osker. LAter- Firestarter i didn't like this album at first, but after a few listens i changed my mind, it's a damn good album. i'm sorry. but everyone on this message board that says osker is that osker is that. osker is osker. the band is great. and the musicians are equally as great. devon is a very sincere person, yet blunt. he says the things that affect him. he's not writing songs about what people want to hear. he's writing music to please himself and make him happy. and along the way, if his music touches someone, the greater power to them. the first ablum, was great, was able to show how people treat each other. it was able to convey the real way people act and are. idle will kill is great, in being that its able to show how devon feels. and those feelings all of us have too. and to you people that do say devon is an asshole on stage, its on stage. devon puts up a front. he isn't like that in person. man, i really like "strangled" I have to get this cd.- fathead I don't care if people hate these guys. I saw them with Guttermouth like 1 or 2 years ago. They started insulting the french people from quebec without realizing that 1/2 the people at the show were from there. The audience turned on them and Osker basically insulted all of them by saying stuff like "You're soo cool. At least you all have nice hats and all the right clothes. Lemmings." I thought it was pretty cool. When did being punk start meaning buying $50 skate t-shirts and $100 snowboarding sweaters? Christ. the only song i've heard in 'Strangled' on punkorama 405, but it is a really good song. i'll be buying this soon.- fathead this cd is fucking awesome.. sure it is nothing at all like Treatment 5 but who the fuck cares? this album has much much much more talent envolved than the 3-chord wonder that was Treatment 5 I dunno why people hate these guys, I didn't think that much of treatment 5 but I really love this stuff the guys voice is just so interesting, It just gets so boring when you have stupid singers with identical voices (good charlotte anyone?) Im not anonymous Im shannon. Those people who say all this shit about Osker are dumb-asses!! I didn't even want to finish reading your lame comments. Osker is awesome, their music is in a class of its own and if you don't like that they are great then just shut your face! I have had this album for almost a month now (thanks to the internet) so I feel I have had sufficient time to record an honest review. (after all, I would not want to follow suit with those who have yet to listen to it!)I must say, that I beg to differ with those who say it is a "trendy" album. Take "Patience" for example - I don't hear any song by NFG, Ataris (or any of the other shitty bands mentioned) sounding like that. The music just has so much more to it than there previous effort Treatment 5. One should consider that truly recording a "trendy" album would have been doing Treatment 5 all over again. I mean, T5 wasn't really that original, but IDK is leaps and bounds above it in originality. spend your bucks in a better way . Haven't heard this one yet, but Treatment 5 was a killer. Your rage can really relate to those lyrics. (Which are bout anger,empty promises, betrayel...).I've heart two songs from the new one, and it seems to me that they are much more sloppy now, which sucks. i didn't like this album at all. their first album was unbelievable. it was a top 5 album of 2000. but with this record they try to sound like all the other trendy pop punk-emo stuff thats really popular right now. you know; like the ataris, new found glory, saves the day, or any band on drive-thru records. i might have liked this record a little if i never heard their awesome 1st album. very disappointing "trendy" album by Osker. Okay could we stop this stupid "most hated band on epitaph" thing. I've never spoken to one person who thinks osker "is a bunch of assholes". No one really pays that much attention to them to hate them. We can call them the most "who are they?" band on epitaph....although epitaph has bulked up in that category (buy the refused and International Noise conspiracy albums). And I think music is shit without progression, the new stuff is nothing ground breaking, it just sounds less like a green day cover band. Oh, and please don't compare them to Dillinger Four. People hate them because they sound just like Green Day. To Fathead- why do people hate them? what I've heard is pretty good. This is a good review also.-fathead |
