Album Review: 1000mods, Youth of Dissent
It seems to be the mark of generational shifts that one invariably criticizes the one after. Baby Boomers and Generation X. Generation X and Millennials. Millennials and Gen-Z and whatever they call the proverbial “kids nowadays” nowadays. Coming from Greece, which is a nation that has seen arguably more than its fair share of turmoil even before the worldwide COVID-19 outbreak — from economic upheaval to being an epicenter of Europe’s greatest refugee crisis in over half a century, to the all-encompassing apocalyptic linger that is climate change currently in progress — 1000mods appear to depart from this “when I was your age we walked uphill both ways” norm with Youth of Dissent, their fourth album and second to be self-released through their own Ouga Booga and the Mighty Oug Recordings imprint.
The cover art and the general theme of the engrossing 11-track/55-minute long-player seems to be framed not around calling the youth lazy, but standing in admiration and being inspired by the likes of the school-walkout climate protests and other youth movements happening worldwide, and fair enough. Bassist/vocalist Dani G., guitarists Giannis S. and George T., and drummer Labros G. return accordingly with an energetic and powerful collection of songs, perhaps less directly politically oriented than one might think, but from the careening opener “Lucid” onward as the salvo continues into the crunch-riff/open-verse-combo “So Many Days” and start-stop shover “Warped” ahead of the slower roll of the seven-minute “Dear Herculine,” 1000mods offer the best summary of their purpose right there in the name of their first track. They are lucid. Strikingly so.
The Chiliomodi four-piece have never exactly been shy about their purposes. Their 2016 full-length, Repeated Exposure To… (review here), back through 2014’s Vultures (review here), 2012’s Valley of Sand EP (discussed here), 2011’s breakthrough debut, Super Van Vacation (review here; discussed here), 2009’s Liquid Sleep EP (review here), and 2006’s Blank Reality EP all one way or another have made heavy rock and roll the root of what they do. From an early fascination with desert vibes in Super Van Vacation and Valley of Sand, they’ve shifted toward a more straight-ahead approach to weighted tones and riff-led fare, with Vultures capturing the transition in action ahead of further realization on Repeated Exposure To…, which before Youth of Dissent, was their most mature release to-date. That title has been usurped, and in somewhat ironic fashion given Youth of Dissent‘s homage to upstart-ism.
Still, it is the clarity of their intention and the feeling of purpose in their songwriting that comes through so much in the material on Youth of Dissent, with “Dear Herculine” displaying a more patient take, which the duly wistful “Young” and the slow progressive build of closer “Mirrors” will bear out later, and while that’s a consistent theme across the 1000mods‘ work from their earliest days of Kyuss worship, the sense of just how much they’ve adopted and adapted their own approach is hard to ignore in these songs, and the effectiveness of their work has yet to sound so broad in its reach. That is to say, Youth of Dissent feels worldlier, speaking not just to a heavy underground, but a wider audience of anyone who might hear it. It is an album with a message it hopes to convey to as many ears as possible.
In making it, 1000mods traveled to Washington to record with producer/engineer Matt Bayles, who’s best known in heavy circles for his work with Mastodon, Isis, Sandrider and multitudes of others in the Pacific Northwest noise sphere. And to be sure, Youth of Dissent accordingly lacking nothing for volume. It comes out in the stage-ready drive of “Warped” and the later pair of “Pearl” and the well-we’re-in-Seattle-so-let’s-make-a-Nirvana-song “Blister” ahead of “Young,” but as can be heard in the comfortably floating melody of “Less is More,” the centerpiece interlude “21st Space Century” and even the gallop of the penultimate “Dissent” — which also brings about some of the record’s most physically dense riffing — it wasn’t simply volume so much as dynamic that the band wanted to hone in the recording.
Bayles brings a keen ear for performance, which is unsurprising given his pedigree, but through that, Youth of Dissent also highlights how much 1000mods‘ approach to has to offer at this stage in their now-15-year tenure. There is an overarching professionalism to pieces like “So Many Days” and the recent speedy single “Pearl” that offer a vision of heavy rock intended for a mass audience. They are not just preaching to the converted here, as they otherwise might. They’re trying to win new converts. And there is a sizable distinction between the two in terms of boldness and, again, lucidity.
While not cloying in the way of commercial hard rock, stripping away personality in search of a universal lowest common pop denominator of dumbed-down (usually white) male aggression, Youth of Dissent makes its own willful rebellion in its refusal to isolate itself. It’s true the dominant social narrative of the day may have shifted out from under the record’s feet to some degree — plagues happen, apparently — but that doesn’t make 1000mods‘ message any less relevant. Their pointed admiration and you-inspire-us point of view comes through as surely as any of the guitar, bass, drums or vocals, and gives an impression that lasts right alongside the strongest of hooks in “So Many Days,” or “Pearl” or “Young” or “Dissent,” etc., and invariably, they’re speaking to an audience beyond the bounds of the heavy rock norm. Maybe even a younger one.
Their worldlier perspective and veteran status are both remarkably well earned. Even in the last five years, the band have toured extensively through Europe as well as hitting North America and Australia, and their audience has only continued to grow, making them not only ambassadors and spearheads of the vibrant Greek heavy underground, but one of the foremost acts of the European live circuit. They translate that experience into the tracks of Youth of Dissent, and if what they’re drawing in terms of inspiration is the energy of the young itself and the fervency of belief in what they’re doing, then the success of the album is writ large across its near-hour runtime. There seems also to be an undercurrent of hope throughout the proceedings, and along with their craft generally, that too feels more crucial now than ever.
left me unimpressed and underwhelmed, loved this band b4 this album
I agree with Chorley above. I am from Seattle, and this has way too much of the 90’s Seattle sound….that should stay in the 90’s…IMO.
And as per the review…maybe try less words and say more.