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Olympia

Emergencies (2007)
Hope Division

Reviewer Rating:

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

Published on April 3rd 2007

Olympia contain members of Fairweather and Brand New Disaster, so it was common to think that the band would either lean in the direction of the ambitious qualities of the former's final full-length, Lusitania, or the standard, straightforward Triple Crown rock of the latter. Unfortunately, Emergencies falls into the latter camp, and while it's a little safe and boring, carrying with it an occasionally ill-sounding bar rock swagger, it does have pep and a little muscle despite Phil Williams' raspy, relatively weak delivery. But...it's also about 5-10 minutes too long.

Emergencies has hooks, but they don't necessarily dig as deep as they should, all the while producing a base blending hints of early Foo Fighters and, like Brand New Disaster, late-`90s-to-early-`00s Triple Crown emo rock. Tracks like "The Resurrectionist" sound like the band have something good going, but drop a chorus nothing more than middling. "Bastogne" is a little more gripping, at least, with a fluid pacing and some line declaring "this is the auto board," or something. However, the rest of the album just drags, rarely offering a moment enjoyable enough worth waiting for. Sometimes the band will flash moments strongly reminiscent of earlier Hot Rod Circuit (the aforementioned "The Resurrectionist," "Even Rome Had Sewers," "This Ship Ain't Gonna Sink Itself"), but more often than not they'll appear stumbling trying to find their own voice. "It's Okay to Eat the Dead (Times Are Tough)" even comes off vaguely like a Full Collapse B-side for the most part (seriously, listen to that sudden "We're drowning!" at the beginning).

"Who's Bad Party Time" is probably Emergencies best and/or most interesting track, sounding like Give Up the Ghost's "(It's Sometimes Like We Never Started)" (the intro track on We're Down 'Til We're Underground) with softly sung vocals over it.

The recording on Emergencies feels a little flat, too. Olympia would have benefited a ton from, well, something, but the more subtle nature of Emergencies just doesn't seem to suit them too well. I don't think Matthew Ellard had entirely much to work with, but this type of almost vaguely lo-fi sound worked much better with Bear vs. Shark's Terrorhawk.

All the credit in the world is due to Olympia for at least trying. There's a lot of variety on Emergencies, from slower songs to solid rock tracks and the sporadic appearance of an original-sounding riff. Ultimately however, Emergencies is hardly composed of crises worth one's attention.

M-80
Olympia Is a Motherfucker

STREAM
Bastogne

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moneenerd (April 28, 2007)

i think the riffs on this are great.

Kursk (April 5, 2007)

Since I last commented, I have listened to the album several more times through and actually some of the more mellow songs are growing on me apart from "Who's Bad Party Time" which is the only song I don't like. And as it has already been mentioned, the recording could be better. But save for that fact and that one song I would give this album a 9/10.

And Fairweather's first album was alright, but it was crap next to Lusitania

Anonymous (April 4, 2007)

really really poor recording...but this is definitely a band you have to experience live. whoever recorded this made a lot of blaring errors.

great guys, great live.

Anonymous (April 4, 2007)

anyone who talks about fairweather's first album is pretty lame.

Anonymous (April 4, 2007)

anyone expecting fairweather 2.0 is bound to be disappointed, because this isn't a fairweather reunion. it's a new band altogether.

this is a straight-forward rock record. i think people are reading too much into it.

Anonymous (April 4, 2007)

Fairweather's first album was awesome. I miss that band from the first album.

Kursk (April 4, 2007)

this album is far from perfect, but give this band some time, they're already working on hitting that stride and their next album will be awesome. the only reason this isn't a 10 for me is that the review is right that some of the songs (namely the slower ones) seem to drag the energy of this album down. Otherwise this is an excellent debut album and it probably will be my debut album of the year when all is said and done. I don't understand why they didn't put "Los Scorcheros" from the EP on the full length though, that song is awesome.

onegirlarmy (April 3, 2007)

I don't know. Maybe because I had heard the Olympia EP, I knew exactly what to expect when I heard this and I knew they weren't going to continue in Fairweather direction. That said, while they're not exactly covering new ground, I think the band/album is good for what it is, as someone a few posts below me said... a good, straight up rock album, no gimmicks. It's not amazing but it's not terrible either - I think it's good. But to each their own.

maverick (April 3, 2007)

"This is the auto board" made me LOL. I'm about 99% certain he's singing, "This is the art of war," but I could be wrong.

Anyway, I agree with some of your points (this disc could definitely be a bit shorter), but some of these songs are just killer driving rock songs ("Olympia Is A Motherfucker," "Bastogne"). The best songs on here were on their demo/tour EP, though.

However, what this band lacks on recording they completely hit it live. I saw them twice at SXSW and it was way, way better than on CD.

-Scott

stuckinstasis (April 3, 2007)

You nailed this album, Brian. I couldn't agree more.

Anonymous (April 3, 2007)

this is a very boring album.

Anonymous (April 3, 2007)

this is the first negative review i have read for this album. i was not expecting a whole lot from this record, but was blown away.

it's a straight up rock album. there are no childish gimmicks here. i really like this record already!

Anonymous (April 3, 2007)

'was really hoping for something that sounded more like lusitania as well.