Grace Gale

Grace Gale: A Few Easy Steps to Secure Heli-Camel SafetyA Few Easy Steps to Secure Heli-Camel Safety (2005)
Blackout! Records

Reviewer Rating: 3.5

Contributed by: AnchorsAnchors
(others by this writer | submit your own)
Published on November 15th 2005There's something to be said for an explosive start. There's something to be said for an explosive finish. Combining the rock'n'roll swagger and attitude of Every Time I Die, with throat-searing screams, and the occasional well sung vocals, Grace Gale accomplishes both those feats. With off-ki.

There's something to be said for an explosive start.

There's something to be said for an explosive finish.

Combining the rock'n'roll swagger and attitude of Every Time I Die, with throat-searing screams, and the occasional well sung vocals, Grace Gale accomplishes both those feats. With off-kilter rhythms and completely explosive tendencies, Grace Gale are breathing some fresh air into the hardcore scene. It's not original, and it's not spectacular, but it's brilliantly executed, which is already more than can be said for the good majority of acts around today. This album is a visceral experience, providing more than a fair share of sharp twists and turns. With their tongue in cheek lyrical tendencies (again, ETID), Grace Gale careen through all nine songs with reckless abandon.

Wasting no time, the band sets the stage with "Tijuana vs. Albuquerque," igniting the band's fire right from the get-go. And as much as you try and pin down a band they sound just like, you simply cannot. "Albuquerque" combines lightning quick guitar work, and those searing screams with some solid breakdowns that will make kids into that sort of thing go wild. Momentum continues with "Chairman of the Nessie Alliance," which has a far more traditional hardcore sound to start things out, until the vocal freakout about halfway through breaks things up, but the frenetic pace kept by the band's drummer simply will not relent. The song also makes it fairly apparent the type of range that the lead singer maintains, and it's pretty damn impressive. Not fully realized until later in the album, but impressive nonetheless.

Oh, and the song titles.

This is really my one point of major contention with the album, is that it steps right into that pit so many other similar bands call home, with the ridiculous and long-winded song titles. "I Don't Know How to Put This.. But I'm Kind of a Big Deal" and "There's Nothing Honorable About This Discharge" are just a few examples. Maybe it's just being picky, but that's a trend I wouldn't mind seeing die. One of the simpler titles goes hand in hand with one of the best songs; that's the John Cusack-inspired "From Erik to John." It's far less spastic than the rest of the songs on the album, but the dissonant guitars and distorted vocals make for a solid minute and a half, until leading back into the mayhem that is "James Caan Make Yourself At Home." The guitar work here is some of the best you'll find, and all the starts and stops only make things better. They close the album in fine fashion as well, with "Six of Hearts," which just gets better and more chaotic as it progresses. Great final track.

For the better (just about everything) and for the worse (song titles), A Few Easy Steps To Secure Heli-Camel Safety is a high-energy, frenzied record. Here's to a band that can finish what it started.

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Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not respon sible for them in any way. Seriously.

Silas (September 15, 2007)

By no means is this album or band ground-breaking.
But I believe them to be quite competent with the stylings and songs that they have produced so far.
I have not heard the album in it's entirety.
Does that somehow make me unfit to post this? I think not.
From the songs that I have heard, I have a good feeling about this band, and have heard good things about the live shows and band/crowd interaction and response.
As for this review, decently written, but I sincerely cannot stand the lack of maturity in fighting over the internet about things that have no reason to be fought for.
They are called opinions, people.
Anchors, you should know better.
And as for Anonymous, well everything stated was completely childish.
The whole process is immature, in general.
If people took half as much time to actually sit down and revel in the aural processes of the band that they do not like and disregard the ones that they do not as they did in fighting over things that do not even pertain to music in any way, there would be a lot more interesting things to read on the internet, and this whole new "scene" wouldn't be so god damned skewed.
Learn what's important in life, and perhaps you may even get off of the internet and venture out into the reak world for a minute. Or an hour. Or a year.
Go get lost in a book. Paint something. But for the love of everything that you believe, stop wasting your time on things that aren't important.
What a long and meaningless rant.

The score is for the song "Beverages", although I am under the impression that it is not on this album.
If you have not heard it, please do yourself a favour and download it.

crazytoledo (October 25, 2006)

The beginning of this album is priceless. I'm also liking the music as well.

M-SpaceMasta (January 9, 2006)

Fucking Mr. Python Skin boots
good cd
pretty standerard for the front range

Anonymous (December 9, 2005)

fucking sweet cd i got it the day it came out

Anonymous (November 24, 2005)

I saw Grace Gale play twice in San Diego both shows a year apart. They played at Just Java Cafe and amazed me from start to finish with all their energy and the guitarists are fucking amazing. THe video is sick too!

Anonymous (November 19, 2005)

these guys used to listen to ska

Anonymous (November 17, 2005)

alex krill is small and obsolete.

theundergroundscene (November 16, 2005)

score is for anchors' comebacks!

Anonymous (November 16, 2005)

You guys should stop being such duders about nothing.

skaboom (November 16, 2005)

Score is for Anchors

Anchors (November 16, 2005)

Anyone ever tell you how clever you are?

theundergroundscene (November 16, 2005)

i would probably know it was anchors by the dude he would be making out with ahahahahahah

Anonymous (November 16, 2005)

Anchors vs. theundergroundscene. Who is going to win? You know whats really funny, the two of you could run into each other in a dark alley somewhere and never even know it. Good ol' internet anonymity. Have a nice day. Keep up the good work, it's rather entertaining. By the way Anchors, stay in college as long as possible. Take it from me, when you finally get out, you realize that life is pretty much filled with dissapointment. You also realize that your degree is worthless.

J-Funk

theundergroundscene (November 16, 2005)

what a loser

Anchors (November 16, 2005)

Hahaha alright tough guy, keep telling me I have no friends. You know, I bet the 374th time you say it, then it will actually be true.

Thanks for letting me know you were on the internet, I wasn't aware. You know, it's usually the thirteen year olds who argue that being online gives them license to sound like an uneducated schmuck. So I guess you fit the bill. May or may not be homophobic? Where's the discretion? 'Gay ass' isn't a term of endearment, it was an insult.

You can insult the content of my reviews, or how many I've written all you want, but at least I write my own buddy. I actually make a contribution to this website, because unlike you, I don't do a halfass, piss poor job of things. Keep telling me "lol you started it," it's really making your argument that you have a 6th grade diploma valid.

Keep replying to me, though, I promise, you don't sound anything like a fool.

theundergroundscene (November 15, 2005)

and you said kid!

aren't you just the big man on campus or should i say internet where you do nothing but have no life and write seventeen crapass reviews per minute

theundergroundscene (November 15, 2005)

i am on the internet!!!! if i use internet slang and cuss words that may or may not be homophobic i am automatically not smart!!!!! good comeback dude

you started this shit up for no goddamn fucking reason...don't try and end it

should have kept your mouth shut

Anchors (November 15, 2005)

"lol"

"gay ass"

Well you're just a wealth of intelligence now aren't you. Look kid, you mind your business, I'll mind mine. So you go ahead and write your bi-monthly review, which you may or may not have written yourself, and I'll do what I do.

theundergroundscene (November 15, 2005)

lol don't get your panties in a bunch because i shot back at your gay ass comment in the tony danza thread, which by the way was completely uncalled for when i had kept my mouth shut about you

and for the record, three of those top five reviews on my shit were not even written by me myself, rather by other people on my website, as i was trying to spread the word of both my site and those bands, so suck on it, douchebag...p fucking s, it was like almost three years ago, so find some new shit to try and throw at me, not lame retorts like that one and how i somehow jerk off to the number twelve looks like you WHICH DOESN'T EVEN MAKE SENSE

damn dude, i'm being serious when i tell you that friends would really help your outlook on life

davebrave4 (November 15, 2005)

I can't get enough of this album.

I do think they sound a lot like Fear Before; that was the first thing I thought of when I heard them.

Although I do sort of see what you're saying about them being a myspace band. Especially with all the movie allusions. "Nobody makes me drink my own blood. Nobody." -Dodgeball/ Grace Gale

Anchors (November 15, 2005)

Hey Underground scene, just because it takes you upwards of two years to write less than 40 reviews, doesn't mean everyone writes at that pace. Why don't you ever make comments about writing a ton of reviews to Brian? He writes more than I do. But since he's reviews editor, you keep your mouth shut to him.

I've had enough of you. The only time you ever comment on this site is to say "this band sucks" or "Anchors stop reviewing, make friends." It's old fucking hat. I go to school, have a job, have plenty of friends, am involved in plenty of shit on campus, and still I manage to write the amount that I do. Get back to me when you can contribute something here besides a textual masturbation to Shadows Fall.