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Casey Jones

The Few, The Proud, The Crucial (2004)
Indianola Records

Reviewer Rating:

Contributed by: FortyMinutesWest
(others by this writer | submit your own)

Published on February 10th 2004

I know I’m not the only one who looked at the cover of this album and said “what the fuck is going on here?” A bunch of straight edge, Confederate soldiers rising from the dead to do battle, what’s up with that? Well, upon reading the press release I realized that the cover wasn’t meant to be completely serious, which is a good thing, considering taking it seriously would’ve required quite an effort on my part.

Featuring members of Evergreen Terrace, Casey Jones plays a mix of metalcore and straight up hardcore. There are plenty of breakdowns and shout along choruses. Oh, and there are also enough straight edge references to turn listening to this album into a drinking game. Isn’t it ironic, don’t ya think? This is an enjoyable album to listen to, but it certainly won’t make you think. This band almost reminds me of Welcome To Your Life, mixed with their previous incarnation, Show Of Hands. There’s a pretty good balance here of metal and hardcore, and the vocals thankfully stick to pure screaming instead of growling. The songs are relatively short and fast, and usually centered on the breakdowns. I’m sure this will cause a few of you to roll your eyes, but in this case, it’s ok because this band isn’t trying to be tough or be the heaviest thing out there, they’re just writing good, fun songs. These guys don’t take themselves too seriously, with song titles like “If You’re Smoking In Here, You’d Better Be On Fire” and “You Were Never A Fan of The Dry Hump.” I’m glad to see someone injecting a bit of humor into straight edge hardcore, as it has been lacking in this area for while.

If you dig bands like Show Of Hands and Stretch Armstrong, you’ll most likely enjoy Casey Jones. If you come into this expecting to be whisked away to world of experimental music and quasi-intellectual lyrics, you’re going to be disappointed. But if you’re looking for music that’s fast, energetic, and fun, you won’t be let down.

Pigs Is Pigs

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Anonymous (July 1, 2005)

these guys are great and i like how they dont take stuff really seriously, considering their title songs.

Anonymous (January 27, 2005)

this is what hardcore is all about. unlike most of the new trendy stuff you hear now days. good job with this one guys!

Anonymous (October 22, 2004)

i love this cd. because carl got laid....and it has a good song so i can fuckin floor punch this fucker who hate, (he hates sXe kids) fuck him!!

Anonymous (June 27, 2004)

I think Casey Jones was a famous railroad engineer who died in a big accident, or a basketball coach, or a Grateful Dead song way before there were the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Anonymous (February 15, 2004)

its funny cause i hate evergreen terrace, but kind of like casey jones...

Icapped2pac (February 12, 2004)

Yeah, Forty, it was "Skipping Stones". That and the "April's Ballad" were sure-fire fast forwards.

Anonymous (February 12, 2004)

i love this band.

XXX

Anonymous (February 12, 2004)

It's humorous and obviously sarcastic.....but i cant help but cringe when i see a confederate flag......or an american flag for that matter lol.

gatecrasher (February 11, 2004)

score is for the song titles.

Anonymous (February 11, 2004)

that cover art is hilarious
yay for hardcore or metalcore or whatever the hell core bands having a sense of humor.

FortyMinutesWest (February 10, 2004)

" Anybody else remember that cassette tape that Pizza Hut put out that was supposedly made by the Turtles? "Pizza Power" was my favorite song."

I still have that tape somewhere, probably under my bed at my parents' house. Didn't Splinter get his own song too? It was something like "skipping stooooones.." Ok, I'll stop.

Anonymous (February 10, 2004)

I still havn't stopped laughing since reading the first paragraph of that review...

the cover art is UN-believable.

Oh god...

aubin (February 10, 2004)

I haven't heard the whole record yet, but from what I have heard, this is fun stuff... pretty upbeat hardcore. It reminds me a fair bit of Revolution-era Stretch Arm Strong, just a little bit heavier.

Icapped2pac (February 10, 2004)

Oh yeah, this score is for the video game, since I've never heard this CD.

Icapped2pac (February 10, 2004)

Yeah, that was Casey Jones. I just bought TMNT for GBA and it's pretty good. I played it for 6 hours at work yesterday and got paid $18 an hr to do so. Anybody else remember that cassette tape that Pizza Hut put out that was supposedly made by the Turtles? "Pizza Power" was my favorite song.

Anonymous (February 10, 2004)

Casey Jones was the guy that wore the Jason mask in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, right?

This score is for him because I haven't heard these guys.

Good review though.

- Kirby