If there’s one thing that we all knew this new album had, it was a promise to be one of the best albums for Basement to ever produce and oh boy did they deliver.
Released only today, the band has had huge interest, especially since the band have created various different coloured pressings which make it just that little bit more special for all those vinyl enthusiasts out there! Being a collector myself I feel like after spending the past 28 minutes listening to the album, it’s a essential.
Admittedly at first, when the artwork was released I was a little sceptical and confused about the direction of the band. Having loved most of their discography (my favourite being the 7″ “Further Sky” with the incredible “Summers Colour”) I was hoping that this new LP would take my doubt away. I don’t know whether this was a good or bad thing to do, but I completely avoided listening to the single “Aquasun” until the release of the entire album as I thought it would give me a much fresher outlook on it.
I’m a man of tradition and feel an album should be listened to from track 1 right through to the last, so within 30 seconds of “Brother’s Keeper” I was ecstatic, this song includes a perfect bridge mixing the pace and tempo of 2011′s “I Wish I Could Stay Here” and the slow deep beat of previous LP “Covet”.
As we work through the songs it’s clear to see that the atmosphere around these tracks is meant to be much more distinctive and upbeat. I personally can imagine these performed live will provide a powerful dynamic range and I can’t wait to see them on their European tour this February with support from Tigers Jaw and Alex G.
It’s at this point that I come across “Aquasun” and it was at this point I realised the mistake I had made in waiting for the full release, an intelligently crafted wonder of a track perfectly placed to be the leading single. It eases you into a new era for Basement and shows off the quality and talent that has help crafted this album, it creates a focus point where I can individually listen to each instrument on its own and still love every second. The only downfall is that each song is 3 minutes long and you can help but crave more!
Now don’t get me wrong, “Submission”, “Oversized”, “Blinded Eye” and “For You The Moon” are absolute masterpieces and the album would be nothing without them but for purposes of not dragging this review into an essay, I’d like to talk about the song this album is named after.
“Promise Everything”. Maybe a really simple way to describe it is just pure Basement. This song belongs to them and it represents them and the style that they have progressed over the years to bring them to this point. A brilliant pinnacle point for the album and summary of months of hard work so you can safely assume that this will be a fan favourite. The raw power behind vocals, various guitar and drum pieces blew me away and I’m almost certain with an album as good as this, 2016 is going to be huge for Basement.
In conclusion, I’m very impressed by “Promise Everything” and would reccomend that if you’ve never listened to Basement or if you’re a fan of Title Fight, Balance & Composure and various other 90′s inspired punk/melodic hardcore artists then you NEED to check this out.
Conveniently, Angelah will be photographing the London show so look out for that in the future!
To stream on Spotify click here.
To buy the album from Itunes click here.
On their bandcamp, they are currently selling the album for $5/£3.50! For that please click here
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