Off With Their Heads - In Desolation
Off With Their Heads – In Desolation CD (Epitaph)
Epitaph debut for this highly-respected five-piece outta Minneapolis. For those who don’t know, OWTH was signed to No Idea releasing the excellent ‘From The Bottom’ album in 2008 and come on like the perfect mix of Dillinger Four and Avail, with the smallest hint of Against Me! thrown in. I, like others, suspected Epitaph may distil the band’s sound into something more sterile and mainstream but, with the exception of adding a bit of depth to the sound and that of the bass specifically, it’s good to hear the familiar barbed expressions of self-loathing and depression sung over fizzing, raucous and melodic Punk thrashings. The album has many highlights be it the rolling chorus and plaintive M8 of ‘Trying To Breathe’, or the riff frenzy of both ‘ZZYZY’ and ‘Spare Time’ juxtaposed with the acoustic soberity of ‘My Episodes’. But it’s the closer, ‘Clear The Air’, and ‘The Eyes Of Death’ that steal the album, being arguably the two best songs the band has written. Both pivot around Ryan Young’s stunningly poignant lyrics with the latter in particular being laden with quotable lyrics but none more so than the opening epithet: “I’ve been to hell with no plan for return, I’ve seen things that make your eyes burn, I’ve seen the eyes of death through a loved one dying.” Another stellar release from an always reliable band and certainly a contender for album of the year. Steve Scanner
