How did they manage to make it this good?

Bigwig>Propagandhi

"I can't voice much on the new Propaghandi besides what I've read of the lyrics. I haven't bought it .... but when the band demands that I realize that I'm supporting their opinions through "transitive property", ....."

Shut up. Listen to it once. Any band you support you support their oppinions. Dumbass. Shut your ass, no one wants to hear it.

Thank you "anonymous" for telling me to give Potemkin City Limits another listen... because I sorely misjudged that album; although Propagandhi plays some recycled guitar riffs, it is still a great album. After all, even in the most obscure music, what riffs and melodies aren't recycled? It's just the nature of music, you can't invent new guitar notes. I think most of us need to actually listen to a CD three or four times at least before you can REALLY judge it. I just picked up DJ Shadow's "Endtroducing" and I'm listening to it for the first time as we speak and I must say it is awesome.

I don't understand the praise this album is getting. People honestly think this is their best effort? I mean, it's decent, but to me it has no replay value whatsoever. It's also fairly boring and typical.

Stay Asleep is still their best.

Where's the Avail interview from last year?

Will is the new BSD.

Fuckin awesome CD! Fast and aggressive. Just the way we like it!

What the hell, this album came out almost a month ago, and then you post some shitty ass review, of which the first paragraph makes no sense at all?

WTF?

And for the record, this album kicks some serious ass.

Where is the blgwlg revlew?

I can't voice much on the new Propaghandi besides what I've read of the lyrics. I haven't bought it because they made such a big deal to tell me "every dollar is a vote" that I don't want to support their politics.
I'll buy CDs of bands that I disagree with, but when the band demands that I realize that I'm supporting their opinions through "transitive property", I'll wait until i find it used.

That said, I'm sure their politics are better-worded than this. Also, I found this used. Probably wouldn't have bought it new.

New Propagandhi's amazing. What the hell are you idiots talking about? And putting down the music? Dear god, it's their best musically by far.

...evildeadalive

You think X.

I think Y.

But it's okay, you just don't know any better. You're infantile.

Once you're smart, sophisticated, and mature, you'll think Y, too.

Did mention that I'm a fucking pompous douche who resorts to the lowest common denominator to make arguments?

Most Wanted is still a better record than Reclamation.

planes mistaken for stars toured with the ataries for a jaunt, and said in an interview that they wanted shirts that said to the effect they would be your favorite band in 10 years, as in, ones tastes change when you age.

What I find interesting about the new propagandhi is most of the people who dislike it have similar tastes, while almost everyone I listen to it with would never describe themselves as punk fans, but are absolutely slayed by it. People who wouldn't look twice at a fat records band air drumming to "Iteration".

its an asshole characterization to make, but the new propagandhi isn't a kids record. If I was 16 in high school with your typical teenage angst and problems (bless your hearts, I was 16 once), I wouldn't be able to relate fully.
Propagandhi is still comedy, its just darker comedy. You either laugh or cry.

wyzo

Agreed.

Yeah, but he's a pretty good drummer.

Plus their old 27 year old drummer (Matt) tried to have sex with my g/f when she was 16 (and I was going out with her at the time). At least he's not in the band anymore.

Five years is too long. I gave up. I'll just listen to Stay Asleep instead.

Ok I'll add....

I get beat up every day, because i am a fucking geek.....

Will's Screening Process

1. DIY is preferred. certain obscure labels are acceptable so long as they are not discussed at the org
2. there is no excuse for a band to sellout...if a band does, then it is important to inform people they are no longer any good and that i'd been listening to them like 5 years ago
3. any band formed after 1982 sucks

feel free to add

Lyrics can cut diamonds but if the music can't match it whats the point?

The thing is. The lyrics were pretty engaging to read, but they weren't good lyrics at all. Didn't work well.

"At least this record is a frequent topic of discussion, unlike Propagandhi's latest effort. That album dropped and little has been spoken about it since... that album was a severe dissapointment, all these "skate-punk" alumni bands are just writing the most unoriginal music, despite how amazing prop's lyrics are, I've only listened to it ONCE since I bought it... just a ramble of thoughts. Lyrics can cut diamonds but if the music can't match it whats the point? I might as well read a book...

-Not-To-Regret"

A severe dissapointment? Try listening to it again, I'll admit, the first time I listened to it I wasn't that thrilled, but like pretty much all of Prop's albums, it grows on you. Potemkin was probably my favorite album of 2005.

I haven't bought this yet, but the fact that they have a purevolume page makes me sad in itself.

And yeah, the new Propagandhi album was kind of a letdown, although i guess it did eventually grow on me to an extent.

And as long as we're on the topic of bands that took too long to finally release a new record, might I add Bane?

At least this record is a frequent topic of discussion, unlike Propagandhi's latest effort. That album dropped and little has been spoken about it since... that album was a severe dissapointment, all these "skate-punk" alumni bands are just writing the most unoriginal music, despite how amazing prop's lyrics are, I've only listened to it ONCE since I bought it... just a ramble of thoughts. Lyrics can cut diamonds but if the music can't match it whats the point? I might as well read a book...

-Not-To-Regret

It's okay Will. There's no hope fighting the machine that is punknews. They have a long history of suppressing well written reviews. They don't want to masses to experience quality. It will only lead the kids to grow discontent with the routine reviews.

I am looking forward to getting this

martin*
NZ09

What, so you didn't like either of my two reviews, and yet you post this shit? Losers.

-Will

Overall, cool album, decent attempt from the Bigwig warriors.

But, me being the audio fanatic that I am, I feel this record was produced VERY poorly! The drums stand out too much; drowning out the melodic guitar riffs and bass track... these songs would sound a million times better if it was mixed properly! Also some of Keith's drumming is a little sloppy... HE's NO MATT GRAY THATS FOR DAMN SURE!

After listening to the cd a billion times I feel that Reclamiation doesnt compare to Stay Asleep or Invitation to Tradgey. Yes, it does have great tracks such as "Rat Race" , "Cross and Burn" and "A War Inside" but I feel this album falls short to the others. For a FIVE year break they should have easily surpassed their previous music. Bottom Line, these tracks dont stand out to me as much as the their past music.

I dont like this review on the cd at all. I personally feel its a tad overrated.

Way to latch on to one minor aspect of an otherwise well-written and coherent post. It sure doesn't undermine your credibility.

Fantastic album! Holy shit it rules.

I agree with the person two posts down. I have seen Bigwig 3 times in the last 5 years, and I live in Vancouver, which is not exactly close to them. Bands rarely come here, so I am sure they have probably toured quite a bit. If they have time to tour, I am sure they have time to make an album. Not that I really care that much though... Just an observation.

And Exiit English did pretty much suck. Not quite as bad as dude put it though... I just want old Strike Anywhere back is all...

...evildeadalive

"and as somewhat positive, yet luke warm , i am towards this album, it absolutely slays the shit out of the uninspired shitshow rubbish that was Exit English."

You are a fucking moron.
Exit english is a thousand times better than this album.

ps- grammar? its good to know...

obviously, the band (by which i mean tom) have lots of other things to do with their/his time. there are hundreds of things one could spend his time doing. the fact that people in bands are "real people" is not lost on me. but in the last five years, how many times have you seen the band and how many times have they played the same setlist? it's not like the band was hiding and it's not like they hadn't talked about being close to a new album on punknews over three years ago. i'd like to direct you recent naysayers to part two of brendan kelly's recent punknews interview when he's talking about coming up with songs. that and the fact that in an interview after "Invitation to Tragedy" came out, tom was quoted as saying that the wait after "Stay Asleep" had been too long and that he wanted to put out an album every year and that he thought it was bullshit for bands to take as long as thy do.

and as somewhat positive, yet luke warm , i am towards this album, it absolutely slays the shit out of the uninspired shitshow rubbish that was Exit English.

"Sure, they have jobs, but how all consuming are these jobs?"

As stewie griffin would say "are you serious? is he serious?".

This is life you twit. after the jobs comes the eating, then the feeble attempt to maintain relationships, then family, sleep, living in a neighborhood, a city, being Healthy, writing songs just for your sorry ass just isn't very high on the list.

wyzo

whether or not you guys know it, they are not slaves to you. they can come out with an album whenever they please. if they need time off or having problems who cares, the fact is they will release an album when they are ready to. I like that they did this because when bands come out with albums every 2 years or less it degrades the quality. it's filler and it all starts to sound the same.

you're a dumbass, they had lineup issues not to mention they have jobs you dumb fuck

When have they not had "lineup issues" and when has that had anything to do with Tom writing songs? Sure, they have jobs, but how all consuming are these jobs? It's a dick of a question, but a legitimate one.

Look. I know it doesn't quite work like this, but they've had four and a half years to write a 12 song album. That's about 17 weeks, or 4 months, to spend on each song. Now, even if you are working full time, you mean to tell me that you can't write a 3 minute melodic hardcore pop punk song in 3 months?

Come on.

The wait was pretty damn long, for something like this. It's a fine record, but it sounds like it was thrown together in a month.

"you're a dumbass, they had lineup issues not to mention they have jobs you dumb fuck"

Yeah, so does every band that hasn't "made it" yet. Yet most of them manage to get an album out more frequently than every five years.

I'm not knocking this album. It's good. But, for goodness' sake, there's no reason this should've taken five years.

Hey Jet...

Hilary wrote Wake Up and the rest of the new songs from Most Wanted with the Madden Brothers and John Feldman. She doesn't play an instrument, so they worked primarily with the arrangements, but even did that with her. She has writing credits on all of the songs and is responsible for all things related to the vocals.

And Dante. Eat a dick.

"pretty damn good but i'm convinced this could have been written in a year if they weren't so fucking drunk and lazy."

you're a dumbass, they had lineup issues not to mention they have jobs you dumb fuck

pretty damn good but i'm convinced this could have been written in a year if they weren't so fucking drunk and lazy.

All I have to say is that this records blows anything that they have ever recorded off the fuckin map!!!

Jon

I just discovered that Wake Up was written and produced by the Madden brothers. Does that mean I like Good Charlotte?

I think this cd is pretty good....Just got back from bouncing souls in tokyo tonight! What a great show, but the singer was pretty drunk, still pulled it off though. Tiny club, 250 people only, but completely packed. Don`t get to see the souls with that few people at home

This album sounds like Paul Haggis was somehow involved in its production.

Flush Sampler was better than the Punk Bites Samplers.

Chuck... wow... good memories. Hadn't thought of that one for quite some time.

i liked moosh.

the songs i heard on purevolume didnt grab me right away, but ill give this a chance.

mostly, i think that belvedere did this sound better.

Remember when fear;ess was a great label??? Top 5 old school fearless releases:

1. Chuck-westward ho
2. At the drive-in-In/casino/out
3. Punk bites samplers
4. Lonely Kings-What if?
5. Dynamite boy-Somewhere in america

This album won't hold up as well as Most Wanted. It's just not very urgent or innovative. It sounds like Tom didn't write anything until maybe Thanksgiving '05 when he suddenly was, like, "oh shit" and threw this thing together. It's alright, but doesn't stick together very well and Paul's criticisms are right on.

Over-hyped. Nothing new. Their old stuff wasnt even that great, I have a real tough time getting through the poppy stuff.

Not-To-Regret

Why'd the other(s) get deleted? I didn't read the comments.

I agree with what that one guy said. As much as i try to get into this album, i can't. I love fast beats and melodic guitars, but when you have 11 songs of it straight, it gets annoying. I can only take that in small doses ya know? Throughout the whole album i was waiting for that song, that catchy song with the great hook like still or sore losers or alone in new jersey. I dunno. Thats why i think A Wilhelm Scream is the most sucessfull melodic punk out right now.

and to the guy who said thrice failed, your a fucking dumbass. Have some respect for them. Every single one of their albums to date has been different from eachother.

"The reason it is a disappointment is this sound just doesn't cut it these days. Sure they are heavier now than before, but they still have that pop-punk sound. They should've leaned more hardcore and metal and ditched the pop punkiness. They do that "buh budda buh budda" drum thing waaaaaay too much. I'd prefer some heavier breakdowns here and there and more screamed vocals."

so you wanted a metalcore sound with moshable breakdowns, one that will surely differentiate themselves from the other 850 bands currently doing the same thing, right? moron.

"The reason it is a disappointment is this sound just doesn't cut it these days. Sure they are heavier now than before, but they still have that pop-punk sound. They should've leaned more hardcore and metal and ditched the pop punkiness. They do that "buh budda buh budda" drum thing waaaaaay too much. I'd prefer some heavier breakdowns here and there and more screamed vocals. Keep in mind that they have had these qualities before, but I was hoping they would be a bigger part of the songs this time.

I would've loved this CD about 8 years ago, but not now."

Are you joking?

Also, I don't think BSF comes out until next week.

Though, the Lifetime 2xCD doesn't come out until next week, and I bought it today!

this band has done the same thing as Thrice and they both have failed miserably

Huh?

Current Thrice sounds almost nothing like they did on Illusion of Safety. Bigwig, while progressing to more of a metallic sound on each album don't sound all that much different from when unmerry melodies came out.

The reason it is a disappointment is this sound just doesn't cut it these days. Sure they are heavier now than before, but they still have that pop-punk sound. They should've leaned more hardcore and metal and ditched the pop punkiness. They do that "buh budda buh budda" drum thing waaaaaay too much. I'd prefer some heavier breakdowns here and there and more screamed vocals. Keep in mind that they have had these qualities before, but I was hoping they would be a bigger part of the songs this time.

I would've loved this CD about 8 years ago, but not now.

fuck bigwig wheres the boysetsfire review

Where's the bigwig review?

this band has done the same thing as Thrice and they both have failed miserably.

This album is good, but still not as good as Tragedy. I'm liking it now, but its still a bit of a disappointment.

And why has no one else noticed the complete rip off of Enter Sandman for Follow the Leader... come on, the track rips but that is so blatant you wonder if they are trying anymore....

Ahh, but Adam, will you put up the Most Wanted review in its place?

We're deleting this review in an hour or so, btw.

-adam

great album. "No Thought, No Spine" is my favorite song on the album.

whoever said the lyrics are cliche and lame is an idiot. you obviously didn't listen to the whole album or look at the lyrics book.

It still baffles me why people think "Stay Asleep" is a masterpiece. Yes, it is a good album but I mean come on this album is way better.

Where's the Ne-Yo review?

as much as I try to get into this, its not growing on me....i was hoping for more from these guys,alas-oldpunker-

just go to the purevolume site and listen.

yes, good sir, the songs are shit.

Score is for an old cd with a couple great songs on it. I'm not so sure about this cd. I was hoping we would'nt get a review.

"whereas previous albums contained cheesy pop numbers like "Friends" or "Moosh," there's no sign of lightening the mood here."

precisely why I don't care for the album. I've said it before , i'll say it again. I liked the balance they had. for every sink or swim, or numbers, they had a moosh or hope. That kept the albums interesting for me. Reclamation is like one song repeated 10 times, and then a throwaway skapunk song about getting drunk on tour.

The lyrics used to be much more substantial, the political ones and the non political ones. The point made in 'sore losers' is much more clever and riveting than 'a war inside'...the new album just bludgens you over the head with cliche'd political rantings. Fucking every song makes more or less the same point in the same way. 5 years for a metallic skate punk album with every song sounding the same, and with the same content bores me. I liked the variety of sounds (pop songs, hardcore, skatepunk etc.) and the varied lyrics of their last 2 works.

Reclamation is easily my biggest dissapointment of the year and will probably continue to be so until 07 rolls around.

Paul

solid album, for all you haters. you havent listen to it enough.

Shit. I forgot to submit my review last night!!!

AAAAAHHHH

It was a review for the PNdotO crowd!

- Kirby

am i the only one who took today off so work wouldnt interfere with drinking?

Boring.

5 1/2 stars? I don't think so. Nice try.

I get the feeling that this will be gone by tonight.

Bet this'll be gone by tomorrow...any takers?

I have been a BigWig fan since the beginning. With that said, worst album yet.

you hear that? it's a fanboy review. we better take it down. safety is always first here now boys and girls.

owned and operation fucking owns.. especially while playing Operation!

owned and operation fucking owns.. especially while playing Operation!

To be fair, this is more like a 8.4786 score, but I gave them the benefit of the doubt and gave it a 9 because it's a fanboy review.

but you know i won't ingest it...

i am super fucking trashed right now and am unsure whether or not this review will still be up by morning.

but goddamn it's about time.

Never any good. Overrated drivel.

once again i'll say: this album fucking rules. not quite ItT levels of ruling, but damn close.

For those who want a decent review, I'll sum up this CD quickly. Its catchy and gets stuck in your head. Problem: The lyrics and vocals are crap in comparison to other Bigwig records. The lyrics are really really really bad. I mean BLEH. Vocals just don't seem aggressive enough. Less sing more yell plz.

What makes the Reclamation review initially so disappointing? Well, it's been 5 weeks since the actually came out. FIVE WEEKS!. I mean, this could have been a Most Wanted beater and it STILL wouldn't have been sufficient compensation for the FIVE-WEEK-WAIT. Did I mention that FIVE WEEKS is a long time?

Ha ha hardly. Yeah, this was a five week wait, but it's been over THIRTY WEEKS since the Most Wanted review was submitted. That's a long-ass wait. Ain't nothing beating that one, sucka! And you know that if Brian actually had a crisis of conscience and posted it, the kids would whip themselves into a rock and roll frenzy.

i have a feeling even this won't silence the "where's the bigwig review" comments.

Well, we'll just have to see how long this one sticks around for. We've had two other Reclamation reviews. And look what happened to them.

finally!

wheres the bracket review?

A 9, Ha!

Stay Asleep> Invitation to Tragedy = UnMerry Melodies > Reclamation

"where's the blood brothers interview?"

I remember that! They didnt post that fucking interview for like 2 months!

What makes the Reclamation review initially so disappointing? Well, it's been 5 weeks since the actually came out. FIVE WEEKS!. I mean, this could have been a Most Wanted beater and it STILL wouldn't have been sufficient compensation for the FIVE-WEEK-WAIT. Did I mention that FIVE WEEKS is a long time?
-the wang

i have a feeling even this won't silence the "where's the bigwig review" comments.

Very solid record, do they tour often?

On the initial listen, just based on one run through of the albums, I'm going to go out on a limb and say:

Most Wanted > Reclamation

But. To be fair, I need to let things marinate for a little while.

The wait wasn't that long. It was closer to four years than five (4 years and 4.5 months). The Propagandhi wait was longer.

Meh. Max and Jeremy weren't in the band until early 2000 and were out of it a good month or two before "Invitation to Tragedy" was released. They had absolutely zero to do with "Stay Asleep" and very little to do with "Invitation." This band's writing lives and dies by Tom Petta and they were competent hired guns. They were part of a great live show, it's true. But so were other lineups. Near Miss is okay, they're fine guys, I guess, but c'mon, give credit where credit's due.

I keep trying to really dig this record. I really do. But seriously, it's not that good. It should have been called "Regression" instead of "Reclamation."

Well, I'd club a baby seal,

This is a "nice" album. Not a great album. A "nice" album. The song quality is good... but I guess I'm just not into the '06 lineup of Bigwig. If you listen to Near Miss you can tell how much of a song writing influence Max and Jeremy had. Invitation and Stay Asleep are wonderful to listen to because your speakers explode with that live energy this band has at their shows. I just think Reclamation lacks that. Still, it's better than most of the crap out there today.

So where's the Whole Wheat Bread interview?
-Dante

Am I the only one hoping this dissapears by morning?

www.here'sthebigwigreview.com

If this review could have held out until April 1st, there could have been the possibility for a hilarious april fools review. I thought that's why it was taking so long.

now what. i waited 5 WEEKS for this review. 5 WEEKS. did i mention 5 WEEKS was a long time...and so on and so forth.

i could have done this joke better but i'm lazy

score is for having a review!

where's the blood brothers interview?

is it just me, or was a review already posted for this?And i don't mean the one that was stolen from another site....i thought a proper review was posted after that already....or maybe i need to stop drinking so much.

that whole 5 years thing reminded me of Grosse Point Blank, anyone else get that, anyways solid album.

~ Alex P. Keaton

I don't even like this band that much and am still amazed that the review is finally here. Saints be praised!

Now we need a new chant... how about.

Where the fuck is the new D4 record?

where's the bigwig review?

and with that said, it's about damned time.

I don't believe my eyes!

1st... maybe?