Waiting For A Change To Come,
A Common GroundI can safely say that this album has been like a bolt from the blue; an unexpectedly fantastic release from a band I’d never previously encountered, blowing away the cobwebs of the dully repetitive, cliché-ridden crap that currently resides in the limelight. Mixing Strike Anywhere style energetic hardcore with the melodies and strength of Rise Against, Waiting…manages to combine politicised awareness with the competency and passion of the aforementioned bands.
Opener ‘In These Days’ moves with such a ferocity that it’s impossible not to want to shout along with the fantastically melodic riffing. A Common Ground strike the perfect balance between the speed and crash of hardcore and the soaring melodies of Pennywise and The Descendents, and on the passionately powerful ‘Nothing At All’ the pace is maintained until breaking point, when a brooding breakdown leads into yet another thrillingly melodic bridge. Without wishing to wax excessively lyrical, it’s exciting stuff – swerving between genres with ease, but retaining the trademark momentum and tunefulness.
It’s not all melodic hardcore though – ‘Out Of Control’ takes a chunkier, softer route to compliment the poignant lyrics, and the title track is more riff-based and juddering. What most impresses me about the album is that even in the harshest moments there is always a strong undercurrent of melody, demonstrating the songwriting ability of the band and unwillingness to pander to one specific crowd. While it would be untrue to call them anything but purveyors of the finest punk rock, they do mix it about, like the poppier ‘The Point’ which could easily be Vanilla Pod, or the out and out hardcore of the sub-one minute ‘One Plus One’.
Unfortunately, this isn’t a flawless album, since ‘Cannot Comprehend’ is excessively sentimental, without the punchy direction of the rest of the album, and ‘Choreography’ is blandness in song format. But don’t let that detract from the overall effect of Waiting For A Change To Come – it’s a stunning collection of songs that deserves to catapult A Common Ground into the consciousness of the fans of the bands mentioned herein. Go find, buy, download…
Ben
