Check out our Platinum Blue Music Xray TM for "House On Fire" here
Check out our Platinum Blue Music Xray TM for "My Highest Low" here
Check out our Platinum Blue Music Xray TM for "Further I Go" here
This is the story of HOW I WON THE WAR…
In the wake of the release of their debut album "You Are Caught Thinking About Killing Anyone You Want " in January of 2008, fans of HOW I WON THE WAR agree that it's been worth the wait.
Available for purchase here:
Although it's taken the better part of half a year for Alex McKee (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Dylan White (lead guitar, background vocals), Michael "Mez" Dilauro (bass, background vocals), and Kael Racioppa (drums) to put together their 10 song album, it is already gaining critical acclaim to complement the HOW I WON THE WAR buzz that has been created in their 18 months of existence.
Upon listening to the self-produced "You Are Caught…", it is clear that they are on the path to something big. The lyrics are personal yet universal, the hooks are plenty, the melodies are beautiful, and for something that sounds so HUGE, there is almost no fat.
The rock songs make you shake. The ballads make you quake.
My Highest Low begins with sirens ringing out before a pyrotechnic outburst signals both the coming apocalypse and rapture. It is this duality that is evident throughout the album as here McKee sings verses of regret ("I wanna use all my gold/and buy back my soul") yet when the chorus comes in, the melody conjures hope. It's only after 3 minutes that you can catch your breath.
But it's House On Fire that contains HOW I WON THE WAR's most powerful lyrical images. A re-imagining of a story regarding McKee's childhood piano teacher (who set fire to his house after his wife left him), the lyrics succeed in invoking feelings of helplessness and loss. We can almost hear the house beams crashing down around the protagonist as he pleads for someone to 'fall into' him. "Five alarm pop ballad perfection".
It's not just the message that gives you chills, it's also the medium. The music itself is almost-obscenely full of beautiful hooks and melodies (Everytime You Go and Further I Go) as the songs effortlessly shift from good ol' fashioned rawk ( Hey Hey Hey) to epic majesty (Good Enough). Yet, one thing remains perfectly clear: this is HOW I WON THE WAR.
McKee's vocals are expressive in a way that recalls a less self-conscious and more personal Lennon. White's guitar moodily insinuates its soaring melodic counterpoints into Mez's melodic yet unfussy bass while Racioppa's hard-hitting meter keeps it all in formation. But distilling each individual's contribution seems almost remiss: as with all the great bands, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
The deliberately-sounding-like-it-was-written-and-recorded-in-a-
church-basement Take A Walk With Me closes out the stunning record, leaving the listener salivating for more material. If what happens next in the story of HOW I WON THE WAR is anything like their debut album "You Are Caught Thinking About Killing Anyone You Want", they should have an army of fans more than willing to walk with them for a very long time.
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