Rekindling their punk rock flame, New Jersey’s The Gaslight Anthem, released their first album since their hiatus titled History Books. This new album has an overall strong sense of early 2000s punk rock and they seem to have stuck to what they know best. There is a very strong lyrical dissonance in their first two tracks “Spider Bites” and “History Books.” Starting out with “Spider Bites” as the first track on the album, Brian Fallon sings “It’s like this world was bitten by its own kind of venom / and it’s gone too deep to suck the poison out” with a tone of excitement against an upbeat tempo punctuated by joyous sounding drums. Similarly, the second track “History Books (feat. Bruce Springsteen)” encapsulates longing for a past away from the darkness, and without those lyrics there would be no evidence of this longing and sadness as the track is fairly upbeat.
The fourth track “Positive Charge” indicates a mindset change with the lyrics “I wanna live / I wanna love you a little longer,” even though it has a similar sound to “History Books” when considering the tempo and overall composition. The bridge before the last chorus is a refreshing integral part of this song, hinging on being a little bit stagnant prior to that point. The bridge truly captures your attention again, having a well produced slight harmony followed by stronger and more prominent guitar.
The seventh song on the album “The Weatherman” is more peaceful and almost folk-like. Fallon’s voice is borderline breaking, blending beautifully into the instrumentals that certainly do not get lost. This song has vulnerability coursing through the chord progressions as they all intertwine together to get their message across.
“Empires” grasps the vulnerability seen in “The Weatherman” and takes it to a whole new level. It shows the band tying the themes of desperation from the first couple of tracks and following the same theme in the instruments. They have taken away the lyrical dissonance and shown that their sound can match the lyrics and not everything has to have an outer layer of positivity masking its true meaning.
“I Live in the Room Above Her” is about being close, but not close enough. It is a good set up for the memories of being able to be with someone, but also being too far away, leaving them to dreams in the final track. The gentle strumming of a guitar at the beginning of “A Lifetime of Preludes” grows again into a more folk-like, upbeat melody setting up the bittersweet loss story, while being thankful for the memories.
The comeback of The Gaslight Anthem was no disappointment. They have their nostalgic sound, while showing their growth and creating stories that can be listened to for all different moods. This is an amazing way for a band to show who they have become, while still speaking to their past audience.
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