The Men – Leave Home

The Men - Bataille

Runs for: 4:15

Grungy and rough. Can't really describe it any other way.

The Men. Possibly the most awkward band to admit to your friends and family that you like.

This album took a while to grow on me, as did the band. I’d first started listening to their third album, Open Your Heart, which holds a great blend of rock, indie, post hardcore and even hints of country. However, Leave Home is a very raw album that takes the listener on a bit of a sonic journey, starting off with a psychedelic punk sound, jumping to ball busting punk-hardcore before heading in a surf punk-rock direction and finally ending with the crushing Night Landing with all its flanged bass goodness. There’s a very grungy edge to the album, but it also manages to keep itself giving off a very spacey sort of beach vibe. Shit’s cool yo.

In some ways this album could be liked by a pretty open audience, but not as a whole. Tracks such as ( ) and Batille are both pretty similar and have a hard indie/punk sort of vibe to them. Lotus and Shittin’ with the Shah are instrumental tracks, and can really get you going if you’re open to it – Shittin’ with the Shah is an awesome song to dance around to and I get pretty happy when I listen to it.

I think one of the things that I love about this album is that while it's all pretty simple stuff, it's very evocative and a lot of the songs will get you moving in one way or another - whether it's dancing to the instrumental tracks or humming along to the tracks with vocals.

The album employs two heavier tracks that you would probably list as hardcore punk. The first of these, Think, is fantastic for burning off steam as the song pulverises the eardrums with the vocals and practically every instrument the band has at their expense. The second song, L.A.D.O.C.H., might be a bit too much. It attempts to replicate that slow, droning hardcore style that Converge used to bridge their old albums together (L.A.D.O.C.H. being very similar to Converge’s ‘When Forever Comes Crashing’ style) – but even on an album as diverse as this it comes off as unnecessary. The harder edge that we get on Leave Home is left out on their next album which is unfortunate, as these guys seem to pull off that grunge surf punk sound in a unique method which makes this album so good.

If this album comes off as a bit too hard, I recommend checking out Open Your Heart. Animal, the title track Open Your Heart, Candy and Ex-dreams are all very different and fantastic songs, and a band with the balls to diversify their albums deserves your attention. I honestly can’t wait to see what these guys put out next.

These dudes are also touring Laneway, and are a giant part of why I want to go. If you’re going to Laneway, feel free to take lots of pictures of or with the band and rub it in my tear strewn face.

Reccomended for: Refused fans, At The Drive fans who wouldn’t mind getting some Hendrix-esque effects on board, people who dance in the car while they drive. Also hippy punks if such a thing exists.

The Men - Shittin with the Shah

Runs for: 4:52

I find this song weirdly inspirational. I love the shit out of the drums big time. 

If you're not dancing by the end of it, you have no soul.

The Men - Think

Runs for: 3:37

One of the hardcore tracks. Simple, yet effective. 

I listen to this when I need to burn off steam.