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Spitfire - Self-Help (Cover Artwork)

Spitfire

Self-Help (2006)
Goodfellow Records

Reviewer Rating:

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

Published on August 25th 2006

While it has been over four years since the technical metalcore wrecking machine Spitfire put out their last release, you wouldn’t know it from listening to Self-Help. With this album, they effortlessly make the countless number of bands who have sprung up in their wake look amateurish.

The album’s striking cover art (a moustached man with ram horns and blank eyes) is a fitting reflection of vocalist Jon Spencer’s often dark yet always intelligent lyrics. Over the course of the alubum, Spencer touches upon everything from a first person perspective of a pig set to slaughter (“Meat Market”) to visits from angels (“Life and Limb”) to the loss of individuality (“Go Ape”). Human behavior and our inherent weakness appears to be a running theme throughout Self-Help, providing a welcome breather from the typical heartbreak songs currently plaguing their genre.

The band’s greatest strength however may be their ability to write songs that are as tuneful as they are chaotic. Spitfire displays a sharpened songwriting ability only a handful of their peers can match. Every off-time beat, every dissonant chord, and every feedback squeal has its place within each of the album’s eleven expertly crafted tracks. From the chugging drums and bass in the intro of the title track to the harsh screams that open up “Dear John,” this disc is packed from start to finish with well calculated metallic devastation.

Nods to Scarlet and Norma Jean (due to the fact that the two bands share guitarist Scottie Henry) are inevitable here. That’s hardly a bad thing however, and it's certainly nothing Spitfire has ever made any effort to conceal. This is an excellent album from a band that’s never received the attention or respect they deserve. In summation, Spitfire is a great deal better than most of what gets passed off as “metalcore” these days and fans of the genre would do well to give this CD a chance.

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Anonymous (August 30, 2006)

you should note that the lead singer of this band was scarlet's old singer(their first ep, something to lust about and cult classic)

ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS???

Anonymous (August 30, 2006)

you should note that the lead singer of this band was scarlet's old singer(their first ep, something to lust about and cult classic)

ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS???

Anonymous (August 30, 2006)

you should note that the lead singer of this band was scarlet's old singer(their first ep, something to lust about and cult classic)

ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS???

Anonymous (August 30, 2006)

you should note that the lead singer of this band was scarlet's old singer(their first ep, something to lust about and cult classic)

ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS???

AERJARKJWKJHKRHWEJRW I KNEW HE HAD ANOTHER BAND ELEHARI

Anonymous (August 30, 2006)

you should note that the lead singer of this band was scarlet's old singer(their first ep, something to lust about and cult classic)

ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS???

AERJARKJWKJHKRHWEJRW I KNEW HE HAD ANOTHER BAND ELEHARI

Anonymous (August 30, 2006)

you should note that the lead singer of this band was scarlet's old singer(their first ep, something to lust about and cult classic)

ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS???

AERJARKJWKJHKRHWEJRW I KNEW HE HAD ANOTHER BAND ELEHARI

MammothPress (August 27, 2006)

To the guy who made a crack about 90 pound wuss you really need to go back and listen to those records. You're beyond off base about them

Scruffy (August 25, 2006)

Also, I give this bands props. Some friends and I saw them before they broke up (and then got back together). They opened for Less Than Jake, New Found Glory and some other ska band back in 2000. The kids were booing, as it was a crowd full of ska kids in front of a metal band. They're not bad, and they played an intense set. The singer hit his head on a guitar or cymbal and bled through most of the set.
I'd wouldn't buy a record of theirs, but their live show's not bad.

Scruffy (August 25, 2006)

"all right! more fuckin god-rock! Jesus this is something completely original. lets all trace the lineage.
90 pound wuss
mxpx
the electrics
more mxpx
zao
and finally spitfire (there may be a "few" I left out
please file under cult"

I have no idea what you're trying to say there. I've read it four or five times now, and I can't figure out your point. Now I must know, or it's going to bother me. What were you trying to say?

Anonymous (August 25, 2006)

For a second I thought this was a new album from Vancouver's The Spitfires, but no. It's metalcore and therfore, I don't care.

Kursk (August 25, 2006)

fuck me spelled The SmacKdown wrong

Kursk (August 25, 2006)

I haven't heard this but I LOVE Cursed and The Smachdown are pretty good in my opinion and Taken were good, so yeah, if Goodfellow put this out, I'll definitely check it out.

Infrarecon (August 25, 2006)

I'm really liking this record.

Anonymous (August 25, 2006)

Goodfellow records is one of the most underrated labels out there. This is Taken's old label. Meh! I miss Taken.

Anonymous (August 25, 2006)

all right! more fuckin god-rock! Jesus this is something completely original. lets all trace the lineage.
90 pound wuss
mxpx
the electrics
more mxpx
zao
and finally spitfire (there may be a "few" I left out
please file under cult

Anonymous (August 25, 2006)

you should note that the lead singer of this band was scarlet's old singer(their first ep, something to lust about and cult classic)

Anonymous (August 25, 2006)

fuck off niggers

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