Repeater – We Walk From Safety album review

After more than a decade and a half of listening to music, I started thinking that nothing would surprise me anymore, wrong! People say that life is full of surprises, and I couldn’t agree anymore. Since I’ve started Muzikablog music blog, I’ve been in touch with many bands and it helped in broadening my musical horizons. From time to time, there is a band that passes by and retwinkles that candle light, pleases your ears and shakes the boat for you.

Lately I’ve received a digital copy (go green guys!) of Repeater‘s second full length studio album; We walk from Safety. Repeater, a band from Long Beach California play a little bit more than just bum bum bam. They are a five piece rock band who formed back in 2005, and in August 2011, they released We Walk from Safety. The title of the album is a song title which appeared on Repeater’s 2005 demo. We Walk from Safety was produced by Ross Robinson, who previously worked with Slipknot, Machine Head, Sepultura and The Cure. So let’s get our hands dirty and spin this record, metaphorically speaking. Expect the best and something totally different from what you hear and see on MTV these days. Repeater is no blonde big boobed singers band, only hairy men.

The first timpani like beats that greet you in the album, are already an indication that listening to the whole album is going to be an enjoyable experience. The introduction reminds me of The Cure’s song Bloodflowers. Yours and Mine, the album’s first track starts with Steve Krolikowski both strong and fragile at times vocals, accompanied by the timpani. One minute and ten seconds later, the song starts taking shape thanks to drum beats that sounds like something horrific is approaching, such as your mother in law. A song which started calm and melancholic, exactly on the third minute turns into a hell of a head banging and loud to be played song; bass guitar riffs which definitely hurt the player’s fingers, loud vocals and real fast guitar riffs. After the first track you’re already set on a high and ready to smash everything that’s within your arms reach. The second track, Finally a Place includes again some real scratchy bass guitar riffs and clean electric guitar melodies which are very easy to digest to the ear. To swallow lost Goodbyes, the album’s third track is again another catchy song with atmospheric yet heavy guitar playing, amazing bass riffs and urgent drum beats. And the list goes on…

After listening to the whole album over and over again, I assure that you won’t get fed up of listening to it. It will take you around a life time to get bored of this record. In Repeater’s music you’ll notice a lot of dark and good old influences. They are no copycats or posers; they have their own real sound. The well-coordinated singing and catchy bass playing from Steve Krolikowski; melodious and yet heavy guitar riffs firing out from Alex Forsythe’s guitars, the inspiring and atmospheric keyboard notes from Rob Wallace, and well-timed sometimes aggressive drumming from Matt Hanief make Repeater a hell of a band. In each and every track there are different sections and riffs that remind me of some of the best songs I’ve heard from great bands, such as The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees and other 60′s and 70′s great garage bands. Is it true then that Repeater are walking away from safety, i.e. from their safety net? I think they are because they are doing exactly the opposite of what today’s Deejay’s do, which in today’s world are successful. In laymen’s terms, today’s Deejays remember of a very good song from the good old days, add someone else’s beat (samples) to it, and then screw it up. How can you ever release a better version of Highway to Hell, Stairway to Heaven, or Comfortably Numb from Pink Floyd? Let’s get on with it and stop all this remix this and remix that. If DJ’s feel like remixing things, they should help me with mixing my ingredients when cooking, since I never manage to get a well done dinner. Back to Repeater, so, what they are doing is great. They have listened to loads of good music in their when they were younger and had pimples, then they blended their own musical memories with their own life experiences, good and bad, added the spice of their own thinking, talent and brain works to such music, and came up with real music and unique sounds.

I really shouldn’t be blabbing non sense about every track’s note and instruments. What’s the use of having a long review which people do not read? If you listen to the track below, it speaks for its own. It should definitely convince you that you should buy this record because this album is amazingly good. Unfortunately today one doesn’t encounter a lot of bands producing such great music, as much as you don’t encounter sexy chicks on a Californian beach when compared to Baywatch tv series. If you’re a fan of the early Cure albums, Bauhaus, Christian Death, Cocteau Twins, then Repeater’s We walk from Safety album is definitely an album that make it in your collection.