It's been twenty years since Green Day released their fourth studio album: Insomniac. To most people this album was simply the record after Dookie, the album that shot the band into their massive mainstream success. Without the sales and radio play that contributed to Dookie's success, it was easy to shove Insomniac under the rug.
Before I go any further, I want to clarify that in no way do I mean to attack or trash Dookie. I grew up blasting "When I Come Around" and "Welcome to Paradise" in my room which, along with the other fantastic tunes on the album cemented Green Day as my favorite band even now as I write this review.
So when I first gave Insomniac a listen back in the later years of the 2000s I was not blown away. I even went so far as to consider it Green Day's least inspiring album when compared to the gems on Dookie and Kerplunk! Only when I found myself continually going back to the listen to it over and over again on my way home from high school did I slowly begin to realize that the album was having a profound effect on me.
Clocking in at a little more than a half hour, Insomniac takes no prisoners in its loud and heavy distorted attack. Opening with Tre Cool's drum fill on "Armatage Shanks" I immediately heard this albums greatest strength: the rhythm section.
Throughout the entire record if you weren't sold on the quick and catchy tunes Billie Joe Armstrong sings in a voice which, to me, differs from every other Green Day record in its almost incoherent and rough timbre, then you can't help but tap along to Tre's drum parts or hum to the involving and melodic bass lines Mike Dirnt is tearing through.
Tre and Mike never fail to deliver a mean rhythm section for Billie Joe to sing and play guitar over, and it's most apparent on this record. The song that stuck with me (no pun intended) the most on the record was "Panic Song" which is driven by Mike's power strumming in the beginning and is then joined by the rest of the band in what can only be described as distorted punk machine gun fire. In this buildup Tre also makes fantastic use of the toms in a beat which stumped one of my old bandmates when trying to cover the song. This buildup takes up the first half of the tune before exploding into the verses and choruses of the song. Along with other songs like "Stuart and the Avenue" I can say without any doubt that Mike Dirnt's bass playing shines the most on Insomniac.
Moving on to the guitar playing on the record, I loved Billie's heavy and thick distortion and how it really immersed me in a punk sound that at the time I was not familiar with. On many albums that I love, there has always been at least one point on the record where things slow down for a ballad and then pick up once again. This was not even close to the case for Insomniac; another reason I loved the record. It sounds like the band is never moving or changing instruments as the album plays through which adds a much more intimate and genuine feeling to the album which I really loved.
Something I always made note of on the record were the lack of any guitar solos. Being a guitarist myself, I'm always up to hear a good solo here or there. But not so with Insomniac. On many occasions there are parts of the songs where it is clear that a guitar solo could have been dubbed there. But Billie Joe never did this, another aspect of the record I always respected. On most of the Green Day records it's clear that Billie always wants to go for a "less is more" approach when it comes to guitar melody and guitar solos. And this really makes you appreciate the guitar solos when they do come. All in all, the instrumentation really shined on Insomniac. It wasn't all about the lyrics and singing, instead it was more about every instrument and the effect each band member had on the songs, no part was diminished in importance.
The albums short length always leaves me wondering if I really listened to an entire album. In today's culture where so much importance is placed on concision and how quick and to the point your message is, Insomniac shoves itself in your face and leaves before you can feel its punch. To me, Insomniac not only reaches the bar that Dookie left, but exceeds it.
All albums and songs mentioned have been linked to Youtube (for songs) and Amazon (for albums) for either listening or purchasing.
Out of 5 I give Insomniac 4 and a half stars.
No comments:
Post a Comment