I Blame You

Birth A.D.

Most full length studio albums from Metal and Rock bands tend to have an average […]
By Luke Bravin
August 22, 2014
Birth A.D. - I Blame You album cover

Most full length studio albums from Metal and Rock bands tend to have an average of 10 to 12 songs on, with shorter ones having about 7 or 8, but there's not really a limit. 18 tracks is a long enough album to enjoy over a long period of time, but given that most of the tracks on the album "I Blame You" are under 2 minutes, it doesn't take long to get through. 36 minutes to be a bit more precise, with the longest song being "Burn L.A.", which is 4 minutes long, but I'm not complaining. Mostly because I'm a fan of Thrash, but not what you'd call a fan of Crossover-Thrash. But that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy what I heard, as there was quite a strong comedy factor, along with a growing appreciation of the band's song writing and a strong sense of not-giving-a-fuck from the band, which means they don't exactly take themselves seriously, which I do highly respect.

As I said, I'm not a fan of Crossover-Thrash, but I have heard your bigger name Crossover-Thrash bands, like D.R.I. and MUNICPAL WASTE, even ACID REIGN, which are the bands which jump to mind when listening to BIRTH A.D., the writers of this long, yet short album (meaning lots of short songs, like the album "40 More Reasons to Hate Us", although that's an extreme example).

BIRTH A.D. is another Thrash band with your overly repetitive riffs, Thrash-styled yelling and a lot of hi-hat-snare-hi-hat-snare action. "I Blame You" is the band's first full length album which sums them, their sound and the genre up in one.

The album kicks off with "Mission Statement" which begins with a fairly heavy riff and then does a sudden jump into the song which gets your head banging, and I feel it was a good decision putting this as the first track as it sort of sums up the album, so if you don't like this song, then you may not like the majority of the album, as its all very samey.

Samey isn't always bad though, but samey also doesn't mean the riffs are all the same, as tracks like "Equal Opportunity", "Burn L.A." and "This Scene Sucks" demonstrate that, as the riffs are catchier and better written than that of tracks like "Bring Back the Draft" and "I Blame You". But it isn't always about how well the songs are written, as shorter tracks like "Failed State" and "Violent Retribution" are, to me, all about getting the listener pumped and ready to smash stuff, which I'm confident they serve their purpose well.

I feel the album ends on a high note, not lyrically though, as the first words of the last track, "Blow Up the Embassy" are "I'm gonna kill myself". But the song is immediately catchy and continues to be into the chorus, but then again it is a cover, so the last track written by the band on this album is "Popular War" which is as impressive as "Blow Up the Embassy".

Overall, the album does what I feel it was made for; to make you want to smash stuff, as Thrash, especially Crossover-Thrash, tends to do. The songs are enjoyable and I feel that they'd be a great live act to see, but personally it's not my cuppa tea, but I'm confident that fans of this genre will listen to this album and love it.

5 / 10

Mediocre

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"I Blame You" Track-listing:

1. Mission Statement
2. Equal Opportunity
3. Burn L.A.
4. Failed State
5. Bring Back the Draft
6. This Scene Sucks
7. Violent Retribution
8. No, Man
9. I Blame You
10. Short Bus Society
11. Wrong Again
12. Fill in the Blank
13. Kill Everybody
14. No Jobs (Don't Work)
15. Cause Problems
16. Parasites Die
17. Popular War
18. Blow up the Embassy (Fearless Iranians From Hell cover)

Birth A.D. Lineup:

Jeff - Yelling, Bass
Brian - Guitar, some Yelling
Mark - Drums, also some Yelling

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