The Flatliners

The Flatliners: The Great AwakeThe Great Awake (2007)
Fat Wreck Chords

Reviewer Rating: 3.5

User Rating:

Contributed by: InaGreendaseBrian
(others by this writer | submit your own)
Published on September 4th 2007The biggest strength and most glowing flaw revolving around the Flatliners' second full-length, The Great Awake? Sounds like a Fat Wreck Chords album. Can anyone really blame the Flatliners for amiably performing hardcore-tinged, throat-seared, fast-paced punk rock? If it's played this efficie.

The biggest strength and most glowing flaw revolving around the Flatliners' second full-length, The Great Awake?

Sounds like a Fat Wreck Chords album.

Can anyone really blame the Flatliners for amiably performing hardcore-tinged, throat-seared, fast-paced punk rock? If it's played this efficiently, this enjoyably, well, no. Immediate comparisons to the Sainte Catherines and the Lawrence Arms at their most straightforward are terribly inevitable, but luckily for this Canadian quartet, they're well in the company of that blessing of a phrase: "What they do, they do well."

The Flatliners have also reared way back on the ska riffs, in effect creating a pretty pure punk rock album. They're here and there, subtly touching up "...And the World Files for Chapter 11" and providing a solid foundation for "Mastering the World's Smallest Violin." But for the most part, The Great Awake relies on every gravelly sung line, which is delivered with conviction and energy, pulling in the listener for a timespan that more often than not is likely to incite singing along, the words well-enunciated or not. And plenty of punctual, fist-pumping backups only add to the rousing efforts. When group shouts repetitively holler "we're tired of waiting!" in "Mother Teresa Chokeslams the World," it's pretty irresistible, and then they follow up it with some immediate forbidden beats for "This Is Giving Up?" Shit, good work boys.

The Great Awake isn't exactly mind-blowing, but it's damn well-performed, damn well infectious and provides some insight as to why these four young'uns north of the border have received so much attention.

STREAM
July! August! Reno!
Eulogy
...And the World Files for Chapter 11
Mother Teresa Chokeslams the World
These Words Are Bullets

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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.

franky_franc (August 31, 2010)

Great album!.. you have to hear it more than 3 or 4 times to discover it. But it worth it!

blackhawk32 (February 20, 2010)

I love this album, you simply cannot go wrong with The Flatliners. "Meanwhile, In Hell..." is probably one of my favorite songs ever! This album is a very good listen if you listen to it all the way through.

Alien (February 11, 2010)

way better than destroy to create, imo.

I don't really find any flaws with it.

FAskies (July 25, 2009)

Amazing band, amazing album

I enjoyed this more than Destroy to Create.

Hal Johnson Smokes Cigarettes is one of the greatest songs I have ever heard.

I respect these guys a lot because they come from Richmond Hill, basically its a suburb outside of Toronto filled with metal heads/ progressive rock loving douchebags that hate anything ska or punk related. So for a punk rock band to come out of there is great

telegraphrocks (December 24, 2007)

I take away my previous one-star comment, and have upped it to an "8".

Initially disappointing, but now I find myself liking this maybe a bit more than "Destroy To Create".

... it's a grower.

ThoughtriotAF578 (October 2, 2007)

Does this remind anyone else of Underground Network/Terror State Anti-Flag?

pricey123 (September 22, 2007)

i enjoyed this. better than i thought it would be

olddogsneverdie (September 19, 2007)

i agree with both punkengineer and chokingvictim

yeah the ska is mostly gone (but there are some pretty groovy elements in This Respirator that I absolutely love) but the album is still kickass in its own right.
Its true that most of Fat Wreck's bands sound the same. but the sound is so fucking great that it never gets old. I can listen to this blazing fast gritty punk rock forever.

KHDTR is song of the year hands down. It's 7 minutes long and i listen to the entire thing 5 times over without getting bored once

canucker (September 14, 2007)

Loving it. "This Respirator" is on repeat.

baseball (September 13, 2007)

they weren't half as good as the Suicide Machines so i'm glad they lost the ska

can't get these songs out of my head, improvement in my eyes....good work

booker_pee (September 8, 2007)

full points for the bodybreak! reference.

the album is pretty good too.

INDW (September 7, 2007)

very perceptive first comment from GPM imo. i'm a massive SM fan and enjoy the whole crackrocksteady movement but there is def. room for more skacore and it's a shame the flatliners have left the roster, at least for the time being.

nocigar (September 6, 2007)

miss the ska, but am far from disappointed

couldn't have said it any better.

DummyNumbaOne (September 5, 2007)

At first I was dissappointed. Got over it, listened a few more times, then came to the conclusion that this is a solid punk-rock album.

cherrycolarain (September 5, 2007)

Hmmm, I enjoyed this release a lot! All the songs are written perfectly, have the right amount of punch and change of tempos at the most opportune moments, and it's far from being boring. Really, so far it's one of the best albums I've heard this year... My problem with the hornless ska was that no one was going to pull it off as good as The Suicide Machines, so I wasn't digging it too much. In any case, This album has an incredible amount of replay value.

HeyLittleFingers (September 5, 2007)

I pre-ordered this on fat, but haven't gotten it yet...hmm i hope something didn't get screwed up.

ChokingVictim (September 5, 2007)

miss the ska, but am far from disappointed

ryanonthembta (September 5, 2007)

This is a good review. The Great Awake is a really good solid record. Nothing out of this world or incredibly original, but something totally infectious that I'm digging immensely. I'm excited to see them on Sunday.

ExitEnglish (September 5, 2007)

I'm liking this, quite a bit actually. Keep up the good work guys.

XCARLUPANDDIEX (September 5, 2007)

why did fat wreck sign this band instead of better bands (bigwig, a wilhlelm scream, etc ) ?

chipsahoycookie (September 5, 2007)

nothing special. their debut was much better.

no_face (September 5, 2007)

i dont like i as much as destroy to create but its still a solid album

ojama (September 5, 2007)

Satansnuthair (September 5, 2007)

kick ass shit that is all

baseball (September 5, 2007)

did anyone else's record stores not get this in?

i couldn't find it yesterday...but i also wasn't near my normal record stores that i'd usually get this from

Oldpunkerforever (September 5, 2007)

for the record, its me, oldpunker, had to change a few things to log back on, thanks punknews. now, this record for me was just a terrible letdown. makes me just appreciate how good the suicide machines were ( rip)-oldpunker-

name (September 4, 2007)

"too bad they seem to be ditching their ska aspects. there aren't too many good hornless ska bands with Suicide Machines gone and Leftover Crack on the verge of breaking up every show."

haven't they been on the verge of breaking up for every single show they've ever played? im not worried. however, i am dissapointed in the lack of ska riffs on here too. its just not as in-your-face as Destroy To Create, I think.

drunkenriot (September 4, 2007)

did anyone else's record stores not get this in?

telegraphrocks (September 4, 2007)

Really, really, really disappointing.

I fucking loved "Destroy To Create", and this is nowhere near as fun as that album.

Only good songs: "Mother Teresa Chokeslams The World", and "This Respirator".

waytansea27 (September 4, 2007)

I actually love that they took out a lot of their ska elements. The ska was badass in the last record but half way through the album it was annoying, same with the speed the lyrics were sung. This album is put together and is paced better.

skaboom (September 4, 2007)

Obvioiusly, I prefer their more ska-styled songs, but this is pretty solid. I'd give it an 8, it's a solid addition to the Fat roster.

niveK82 (September 4, 2007)

I think my disappointment/hate for this album comes from the demos. I heard them about a year ago and they were fantastic for demos.

Piata (September 4, 2007)

If they took what they did with this album and blended it with destroy to create's ska influence I'd love it. But this album seems like too much of a leap in a different direction rather than a natural progression.

chickswithdicks (September 4, 2007)

maybe i just like this because i don't like destroy to create.

punkengineer (September 4, 2007)

I don't get all the hate for this album. Yes, Destroy to Create was an absolutely amazing album, but no one wants to hear the same crap being churned out over and over again. I thought this album was a pretty good progression for the band and who fucking cares if they sound like other Fat Wreck bands. Fat Mike knows what's good and goes for it. I'd rather listen to any of the new Fat signings over Hellcat and Epitaph anyday.

8/10 Great Awake
10/10 Destroy to Create

Spalmer (September 4, 2007)

I liked how they could write long songs and keep them interesting and well-developed and it seems like ditching the ska removed something for them to add. The songs are less interesting.

jimbojones (September 4, 2007)

It's not bad, i miss the ska that destroy to create has, but i don't think i'm the only one that feels that way. It should grow on me. Good review too.

niveK82 (September 4, 2007)

Biggest disappointment of the year so far.

punk_rawk_show (September 4, 2007)

Really hoping this album is good, loved Destroy to create, but as said before, it will be different without ska touches

LetsTalkAboutFeelings (September 4, 2007)

Have given it a few listens, don't like the movement away from ska. I've already moved back to Destroy to Create. I hope it grows on me.

MikeStupid (September 4, 2007)

Good stuff, but Destroy To Create blows it out of the water.

chickswithdicks (September 4, 2007)

glad the ska is gone. album of the year so far, and i used to hate this band.

GlassPipeMurder (September 4, 2007)

too bad they seem to be ditching their ska aspects. there aren't too many good hornless ska bands with Suicide Machines gone and Leftover Crack on the verge of breaking up every show.