United Nations - Self-Titled

Following the hells of the Narrows discussion a post below this one, we have another super group of the hardcore and punk community. United Nations is Geoff Rickly of Thursday, Daryl Palumbo of of Glassjaw and Head Automatica. The rest of the group is only speculated, as they are all under contract for other record labels, so they cannot legally be promoted under the United Nations name. However, it is has been strongly hinted that Ben Koller of Converge fame is an acting member of the band.

This album is quite the ferocious debut. The album is fast and feirce with the occasional interlude of melody. Rickly, on guitar, and Palumbo are a deul vocal assault with Palumbo screaming and Rickly singing.

The music is a genre bender. The overwhelming feel is a noisey hardcore, but as above mentioned the melodies are reminiscent of Rickley's band, Thursday and the band is self described as grindcore. The style's are quite the contrast, but they fit together very well in the overall scheme of the songs. The lyrics, as to be expected, ride a political edge, with a message of anti-media and other 'liberal' ideas (not critisicm).

For the most part this is a solid album, there are a few songs that stand above the rest, when I listen to it, but nothing really gets lost. "No Sympathy For A Sinking Ship", "The Shape of Punk That Never Came", "Filmed In Front Of A Live Studio Audience" and the album closer "Say Goodbye to General Figment of the USS Imagination", which ends with a really great jazzy sounding piece, are the standouts on the album. I think these albums stand above the rest because they are the songs that really stick out, they don't sound like anything else on the album.

Overall this is a really great debut, and while the band hardly needs promotion after the MySpace explosion they saw when they first released this album, I think anyone who is a fan of loud music should check it out. They have a 7" coming out on Deathwish Inc. later this year, and I am very excited for it.

United Naitons on Myspace
Eyeball Records
United Nations : Eyeball Records Webstore
Amazon