Californian melodic hardcore outfit, No Bragging Rights have released their 5th album, ‘Concrete Flower’. It makes for a record filled to the brim with energy and excellently tactile musicianship. The album goes beyond just being one endless barrage of heaviness, but captures other qualities that make it so appealing
One of the most immediately recognisable features of the album is the utilisation of cleaner vocals, something which can be rather hit and miss with heavier bands. However, the group make them work to a tee, timing them perfectly to provide fitting intervals with the onslaughts of energy throughout. This is probably best displayed in ‘Outdated’, a song which has an almost ballad like feel to it, it’s a hugely powerful piece of work, both musically and lyric wise, and the swing between heavier and clean vocals really set the track off.
That’s not to say it loses any of it’s heavier qualities, in fact these transitions between vocal styles make the heavier, the raw sections are more timely and appreciated, rather than being a constant fixture, they are built up towards brilliantly, making these outbursts of passion and angst all the more epic.
A short snippet from the famous “how hard you can get hit” speech from Rocky even makes an appearance in ‘Fallen Masters’, overlaying a beautiful instrumental, which makes for an insanely nice touch. In fact there’s a number of times where narrative like speeches overlap these moody instrumentals, which provide a big atmospheric quality to some of the tracks.
Some dark, but hugely important and relevant issues are touched upon throughout the record, with mentions of depression and suicide, issues that there is still a large ignorance around, even in this day and age. This gives the album an even greater importance, it’s a reminder that having such feelings are not a sign of weakness.
‘The Concrete Flower’ is not only an incredibly fine piece of work from a musically technical point of view, but the subjects that are touched upon through the lyrics, and the messages conveyed, make it massively relevant.
BRADLEY LENGDEN