Band: UNITED NATIONS
Genres: Punk / Noise Rock / Emo-Violence / Post-Hardcore / Powerviolence / Screamo / GrindcoreRelated artists: Thursday, Glassjaw, Pianos Become The Teeth, The Number Twelve Looks Like You, Geoff Rickley, Head Automatica, All Pigs Must Die, Acid Tiger, The Lovekill and Converge.
Country: New York City, USA
Years Active: 2005-present
Song: "Communication Letdown"
Album: "Never Mind the Bombings"
Year: 2010
Label(s): Eyeball Records / Deathwish Inc. / Temporary Residence
This post's artist is from the June 2014 Mix. This is track #13.
You can download the July Mix#7 right here or get the new August Mix#8 here.
For fans of: Joshua Fit For Battle, Circle Takes The Square, Loma Prieta, Love Like Electrocution, Dispensing Of False Halos, Under A Sky So Blue, Tempest, Youth Novel, Ice Hockey, Youth Funeral, Tel Fyr and Crestfallen aka PROPER Screamo.
UNITED NATIONS were enigmatic but now are almost a household name that garners an outpouring of affection or bashing. I'm not a person who enjoys talking smack about bands, it's negative and doesn't help anyone find new bands that they will like. I also don't feel it's necessary with this particular post to go into the gritty details of the band, their inception and how people view them. This is blog for music, so let's fackin' talk about that.
I remember reading that Geoff Rickley wanted to start a band that was influenced by late 90s screamo along the lines of Saetia and Joshua Fit For Battle, if my memory serves correct. Whether or not I misread is irrelevant, because UNITED NATIONS sound a lot like Joshua Fit For Battle with a polished touch. Considering that's a pretty difficult task, kudos. You'd think there'd be a big Thursday influence with it being Rickley at the forefront, and although you can strain and probably hear Thursday on speed with no clean singing, in the end the band (regardless of who may be on the recording) is really engaging with rapid-fire drums that slow down when needed, intricate riffing combined with heavy breakdowns (not unlike Loma Prieta) and caustic screams. That's a recipe for success in the book of Dave.
UNITED NATION's 'self titled' endeavor begins with "The Spinning Heart of the Yo-Yo Lobby", a perfect introductory track, short (at less than 1 minute), apocalyptic and heavy on the To Bring Our Own End-era Joshua Fit For Battle riffing. "Resolution #9" has a fair amount of spoken/yelled vocals by Rickley which reminds me of harder Thursday tracks, but surpasses any of them in the heavy department and again the dual vocals just kill me. An absolutely amazing song. "The Shape of Punk that Never Came" comes rolling in like a wave of knives with incredible drums and some rather poignant lyrics about Refused. "Subliminal Testing" has the band taking a Snapcase meets Refused approach that slathers on some acidic vocals that remind me of Crestfallen. The track toys with the listener, rising and falling without getting a proper hold until the one-minute mark when the gears lock together and start the machine that brings the album to close, in fast, screamy and heavy fashion.
From the 'Nevermind the Bombings, Here's Your Six Figures' EP the song "Communication Letdown" is goddamn spectacular. Seriously. It's also one of my favourite songs of all time. The breakdown at 0:22 gives me tingles and the back and forth screaming is reminiscent of Ice Hockey and Youth Novel. The whole package is like a slicker Joshua Fit For Battle from their early years.
I'm not going to go too much into the new album, 'The Next Four Years' because (a) I don't own a physical copy and (b) I've only heard it 4 or 5 times thus far. I can say this, if you like the old UNITED NATIONS albums there's no reason why you won't dig this one, too. "Serious Business" is killer first track that kicks it hard at the 52-second mark with some really impassioned vocals with a few seconds of Thursday-ish vocals, but again this sounds almost nothing like Thursday, it sounds like beautiful destruction. "Revolutions at Varying Speeds" has some pretty intense dual shrieking going on that is pretty sweet. "Between Two Mirrors" is one of the better songs on the album that hits the outermost reaches of both ends of the band's musical spectrum, mixing some pretty subdued, slow and soft stuff amid massive amounts of chaos.
I should point out that the new album has some pretty cool song titles, namely "United Nations Find God", "Fuck the Future" and "United Nations vs. United Nations". The band's songs on all records are also generally on the shorter side, ranging from 1 to 3 minutes with a few exceptions. I will be attending the Toronto UNITED NATIONS show on August 7th, 2014 and will post the band's entire set. I'm pumped.
I remember reading that Geoff Rickley wanted to start a band that was influenced by late 90s screamo along the lines of Saetia and Joshua Fit For Battle, if my memory serves correct. Whether or not I misread is irrelevant, because UNITED NATIONS sound a lot like Joshua Fit For Battle with a polished touch. Considering that's a pretty difficult task, kudos. You'd think there'd be a big Thursday influence with it being Rickley at the forefront, and although you can strain and probably hear Thursday on speed with no clean singing, in the end the band (regardless of who may be on the recording) is really engaging with rapid-fire drums that slow down when needed, intricate riffing combined with heavy breakdowns (not unlike Loma Prieta) and caustic screams. That's a recipe for success in the book of Dave.
UNITED NATION's 'self titled' endeavor begins with "The Spinning Heart of the Yo-Yo Lobby", a perfect introductory track, short (at less than 1 minute), apocalyptic and heavy on the To Bring Our Own End-era Joshua Fit For Battle riffing. "Resolution #9" has a fair amount of spoken/yelled vocals by Rickley which reminds me of harder Thursday tracks, but surpasses any of them in the heavy department and again the dual vocals just kill me. An absolutely amazing song. "The Shape of Punk that Never Came" comes rolling in like a wave of knives with incredible drums and some rather poignant lyrics about Refused. "Subliminal Testing" has the band taking a Snapcase meets Refused approach that slathers on some acidic vocals that remind me of Crestfallen. The track toys with the listener, rising and falling without getting a proper hold until the one-minute mark when the gears lock together and start the machine that brings the album to close, in fast, screamy and heavy fashion.
From the 'Nevermind the Bombings, Here's Your Six Figures' EP the song "Communication Letdown" is goddamn spectacular. Seriously. It's also one of my favourite songs of all time. The breakdown at 0:22 gives me tingles and the back and forth screaming is reminiscent of Ice Hockey and Youth Novel. The whole package is like a slicker Joshua Fit For Battle from their early years.
I'm not going to go too much into the new album, 'The Next Four Years' because (a) I don't own a physical copy and (b) I've only heard it 4 or 5 times thus far. I can say this, if you like the old UNITED NATIONS albums there's no reason why you won't dig this one, too. "Serious Business" is killer first track that kicks it hard at the 52-second mark with some really impassioned vocals with a few seconds of Thursday-ish vocals, but again this sounds almost nothing like Thursday, it sounds like beautiful destruction. "Revolutions at Varying Speeds" has some pretty intense dual shrieking going on that is pretty sweet. "Between Two Mirrors" is one of the better songs on the album that hits the outermost reaches of both ends of the band's musical spectrum, mixing some pretty subdued, slow and soft stuff amid massive amounts of chaos.
I should point out that the new album has some pretty cool song titles, namely "United Nations Find God", "Fuck the Future" and "United Nations vs. United Nations". The band's songs on all records are also generally on the shorter side, ranging from 1 to 3 minutes with a few exceptions. I will be attending the Toronto UNITED NATIONS show on August 7th, 2014 and will post the band's entire set. I'm pumped.
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2008 - United Nations cd/12"LP
2010 - Nevermind The Bombings, Here's Your Six Figures 7"EP
2014 - The Next Four Years box set (2x7" + 10" + cassette)
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(2008) UNITED NATIONS - "Revolution #9" (from 'United Nations')
(2010) UNITED NATIONS - "Communication Letdown" (from 'Nevermind the Bombings, Here's Your Six Figures')
(2014) UNITED NATIONS - "Between Two Mirrors" (from 'The Next Four Years')
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UNITED NATIONS discography mp3 download / additional links
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