Jobie Reviews Music 107: What It Is to Burn (album) by Finch
- ChemicalSkylines
- Apr 21, 2021
- 3 min read
What It is to Burn is a 2002 hardcore punk album by the band Finch. It is 13 tracks long, spanning 1 hour and 1 minute of music. The album’s main highlight is the high quality hardcore punk tracks, which are full of great instrumentation and vocals. The album’s track by track delivery of hardcore punk anthems is what defines this album’s greatness, with its overall feel being quite nice.
Elaborating on its great vocals, the album delivers vocals that are perfectly angsty and accompany its instrumentation very well. Their delivery is flawless, even when the album calls for frontman Nate Barclow to scream against the album’s high quality instrumentation. This can especially be seen in the track “What It Is to Burn”, which I’ll say more about later in this review.
Going more into detail about the instrumentation, it’s the perfect hardcore punk blend of everything that makes the genre great - from the album-defining guitar to its drums. It separates itself from similar tracks by having an incredible sound to it. What I’m trying to get at is that Finch’s instrumentation on this one more than delivers, separating itself from other albums in the genre. You really have to listen to the album to understand what I mean here.
Its lyrics, as you can probably tell by the fact that I called the vocals “angsty”, are mostly about relationships gone wrong, angst in general, and similar topics. They go greatly with the album’s already great elements, despite how it may seem. This is mostly due to Barclow’s aforementioned flawless delivery of these great lyrics.
I also have to mention a few tracks in particular, mostly because they stand out against the other tracks of the album. To start off with, “What It Is to Burn - New Version” is the culmination of everything that makes the album great, being the best track on the entire album. Its emotional screaming vocals are highly enjoyable, going great with its instrumentation. Everything about it, is great, really. I’d recommend listening to “What It Is to Burn - New Version”, if you have to choose one track to listen to that’s from this album. It just kicks ass in every way!
On a more negative note, however, “Perfect Mayhem” is the weaker track out of the 13. This is not because of its instrumentation or vocals -which are still great on this track - but because of its very repetitive nature. The track’s lyrics devolve into saying the same phrase repeatedly towards the end, which isn’t particularly delivered in an appealing manner. It’s not a bad track, just not a good one, per se.
The second to last track (which is actually the last track that isn’t from another album - the actual final track is just a new version of an existing one), “Ender”, is a departure from the album’s main sound. Rather than being hardcore punk, the track is more or less a mixture of more somber sound. Around 3 minutes in, the track turns into an instrumental only piano track, before shifting into random, ambient noise. It’s certainly a unique track, being nothing like anything I’ve heard before. Its inclusion is strange, but also welcome, since the other tracks follow the same sound.
My favorite tracks from this album include “New Beginnings”, “Post Script”, “Untitled”, and “What It Is to Burn - New Version”.
Overall, What It Is to Burn is an incredible showcase of angsty hardcore punk mayhem that excels in every way. Apart from one track, the album delivers a great experience from track to track, having a great sound which makes it stick out. I highly recommend that you listen to “What It Is To Burn - New Version” to get an idea of what this album sounds like. This album certainly delivered, and, although it's been 19 years since its release, is still worth listening to, even to this day.
Overall rating:
9.3/10
LINK TO ALBUM:
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