Album Review: The Requiem - A Cure To Poison The World

Apparently, there has been an emo revival I haven't been made fully aware of. I was never an emo, and I wasn't really listening to that stuff during its heyday, but I've found in recent years it has been a nice way of washing out the bitter taste of how rock music has been moving away from my tastes. The Requiem is part of this revival, and this record is a nostalgia bomb for anyone who remembers the days of AFI and My Chemical Romance making it cool to be a drama geek.

This record is basically a fusion of "Sing The Sorrow" and "The Black Parade", with plenty of gang vocals and furiously strummed guitars, and a singer who could easily take the lead on a stage production of the latter of those albums. The difference is that by being influenced by those records, The Requiem is narrowing the focus to the lessons that have been learned. At only 36 minutes, they have distilled their songwriting into bursts of energy that are less concerned with setting the stage than in killing once they're on it.

The Requiem has managed to find the knife's edge where they are writing hooky sing-alongs that remain music for outsiders. There is a pop element to how infectious these songs become with repeated listens, but you'll never mistake them for being pop. The band is too cool to remain anything but uncool, in the mainstream sense. What they do is give those of us who look back fondly on that time a fix of what used to be, and what rock seldom is anymore.

"Cursed" is one of the best songs I've heard so far this year, a true emo anthem, but it's far from the only great song here. Whether the band is pulling from their punk roots, or wringing the anguish from a ballad, they deliver the hooks and melodies that remind us most outsiders would like to be invited in, although on our own terms.

When wallflowers slink back into the shadows, it's because there is something comforting about being wrapped up in a color that matches your mood. The Requiem paint their songs with the cheap bottle dye and dollar-store eyeliner that tries to cover up the color in our lives. It makes us feel better about not being the extroverts using the spotlight as if it provides the Vitamin D we all need, but it's not enough for us to forget that there are still people underneath the masks we apply.

All of that is a way of saying that there's something comforting about this record I think needs to be felt for yourself, rather than explained through my tortured metaphors. "A Cure To Poison The World" is the sort of record that will appeal to anyone who thinks melodrama is the only kind of drama, and who like downbeat music just for the joke of it matching their outlook on life.

The Requiem have given us an utterly charming record that gives me some faith that I haven't yet reached the point of being so jaded as to hate everything. I can't help but love this record for everything it is, everything it reminds me of, and the fact it can actually get me to crack a smile. Will it be the best album of the year? Time will tell, but right now it might just be the best record I've heard so far.

What's the world come to when emo is the happy highlight?