Singles Roundup: Fall Out Boy, Kat Kennedy, Amaranthe, & Baroness

Where do we begin? Oh yeah:

Fall Out Boy - We Didn't Start The Fire

When is a cover not a cover? If you re-write all the lyrics, I would say you haven't covered the song, you've just half-assed your own bad idea. In this case, Fall Out Boy has 'covered' the Billy Joel track, but with new lyrics to cover the last thirty-plus years. First of all, most people agree that might be the worst Billy Joel song of all time, with some of the worst lyrics ever written, so why in the world does anyone think we need a new version of this? Secondly, they don't even put their references in chronological order, so the lyrics are truly just a list of things. Good grief. I almost wanted to defend the band when "So Much (For) Stardust" was actually pretty good, but they've now reminded me once again that they're no longer worth the effort.

Kat Kennedy - Limbo

I have praised all of Kat's recent singles, and this one is no excpetion in that regard. She's found a niche, and she does it exceptionally well. Her forlorn songs mesh perfectly with the tone of her voice, and her relatable stories are easy to find real-life analogs to. There's so much appeal to what she's doing, and when collected, the songs make for a wonderful EP's worth of music. So why do I sound ambivalent here? That's because I'm a little disappointed by these two-minute songs that are basically two verses and choruses. Where's a bridge to heighten the tension? Where is a third go-round to feel like a climax? Good though this is, it also feels like it's just treading water, and not building to a satisfying resolution. I want a little bit more.

Amaranthe - Damnation Flame

This song introduces the band's new growler, and I'll be honest by saying I didn't really notice any difference. Growling can be rather interchangeable, so the bigger deal is them saying this starts a new chapter by introducing symphonic elements they've wanted to integrate for a while. I still don't notice much difference, since their mixes have always been so dense the extra elements are more of a thickener than anything that stands out to a large degree. Trading some synth for some strings isn't the paradigm shift they're hinting at. This is still Amaranthe doing what Amaranthe does. They write very good hyper-pop-metal, and that's what this is. We'll see if their next chapter has any more enduring power than the previous one, as I've found myself not going back to their music at all. Funny that.

Baroness - Last Word

Here's a band I wanted to like, but simply can't. Once I realized my head couldn't take listening to "Purple" without feeling like I was getting a migraine, I've had a visceral hatred for Baroness. That any band would intentionally make records that sound so unpleasant felt like an affront to music, and when they repeated that again, it was the last straw. So why am I talking about this song? I was told they had solved that issue.... but they haven't. Maybe it doesn't clip to death the way the last two albums did, but Baroness love bad sound too much. This might be better, but it still sounds like they dropped the master tapes on the floor, then didn't bother to clean them before sending the record off to be pressed. There's some decent ideas here, but I'm not going to fight through the sound to get to them.