The Dangerous Summer: Golden Record

AJ Perdomo (leftmost) and that passionate, raspy vocals. /swoons
The Dangerous Summer is one of those bands which I can proudly say I discovered on my own either by reading reviews of their past albums or by streaming their music online. There were stretches in my life wherein Reach For The Sun (their debut album) and War Paint (the successful follow-up) perfectly defined my current state leading to both albums dominating my playlist for months. So when their third offering, Golden Record, was announced to be released on August 6 of this year, imagine the excitement swelling inside my musical veins.

Golden, indeed. AOTY contender.
About a week or so though before the actual release, a full stream of the album was made available online, and being the fanboy that I am, I wasted no time in streaming the whole thing. And oh boy, The Dangerous Summer certainly did not disappoint and they may have just released their best album to date.

"Catholic Girls" starts off Golden Record with various sound effects and random guitar strums. By the 25-second mark though, the crunching guitars, rhythmic drums, and AJ Perdomo's ever-so distinct scratchy vocals kick in and I knew immediately my ears were in for one good musical treat. "Catholic Girls" is a solid opening track and I dare anyone to NOT sing along to when AJ belts "It's still a part of me..". So damn catchy. Second track, "Sins", has potential to be a huge single as it continues the rabid energy of the album. This is very evident during the verses after the second chorus as one can really hear all the passion coming out of AJ's voice. "Drowning"  and "Knives" slow down things a bit but both still has that familiar big chorus with "Knives" having that huge gang vocals and wo-ahs. Track 5, "Honesty" returns to the album's blistering pace and once again features a super catchy line (..like a burning fire!). This is followed by "We Will Wait In The Fog" which includes a nice touch with keys playing in the background during the chorus. The next track "Miles Apart", though, is the album standout for me. A mid-tempo jam with a huge chorus, raspy vocals, and superb lyrics? Sign me up for that anytime! "Into The Comfort" and "I'm So Pathetic" are okay tracks but didn't really do much for me since they sounded so alike. The last track, however, finishes Golden Record on a high note. "Anchors", another mid-tempo song, features this melodic and haunting woooah's, layered below the hypnotic guitar parts and a more toned-down vocals.

While there are definitely standout tracks (Sins, Miles Apart, Anchors), Golden Record is more powerful when listened to as a whole. One can certainly feel the effort exerted by the band for this album. Really good stuff!



Next up: Yellowcard's "Ocean Avenue Acoustic", Mayday Parade's "Monsters In The Closet"

 

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