A New Album from The Humane Method Gets Intense
- BuzzSlayers
- 10 minutes ago
- 4 min read
The latest album release from The Humane Method brings on a triumphant return with a series of songs that get very detailed lyrically to the point where you can paint pictures in your head as the songs unfold, emotionally driving moods and soundscapes, vast undertones, and this sort of progressive 90s underground rock vibe that breeds and edginess along with being able to somehow giving off a cinematic spaciousness.
Now, we're not exactly strangers to this band as we've had the pleasure of reviewing some of their previous releases, and I can certainly tell you that this is a step in an amazing direction for these guys.
This record showcases some of their best songwriting to date, and it is a record that, hands down, surrounds you with those moods and lets you get engulfed by it all.
The funny thing is, it feels amazing to do exactly that, and so this album becomes more of an experience packed with that layer of Personality, emotion, and amazing guitar work to boot.
The record is called Paint In Green, and it doesn't waste a lot of time getting to the point with its first track, "Rickety Tomb", which doesn't outstanding job of bringing on some of those heavy-handed and emotionally driving sounds and approaches plus, it's an amazing introduction to the record because it does showcase some of these outstanding staples that you will hear throughout the rest of the release.
Having said that, this is an album you should be listening to as a whole. This is the kind of records these guys put out. Their records that you should be soaking in as one full experience, and this album is no exception to that rule.
Being able to get soaked up into this album is so much fun, and it's like watching a film in a way. The songs are almost like chapters in a book or scenes of a film, and when you put them together, you see a bigger picture.
Plus, again, there's a lot of moods and descriptive detail getting thrown out there lyrically and musically so that you can let your mind sort of travel along with these songs, and in turn, you're taking musical Journeys.
I love a record like that because again, it gives you a full experience, which is not something you get often, so when it comes along, it's a bit refreshing.
Now, this first track does hit a bit of a pop-rock approach at first, but then gets a little bit darker, plus you get a lot of robust and impassioned vocals just belting out at times, giving these massive sets of intensities.
Then you have songs like "Lowest Temperature for Decay" which boast a bit of a shoegaze type of feel because there's a lot of what feels like reverb effect on the guitars and vocals.
The drumming still provides a lot of drive and helps push the moods and the sounds of the songs, of course, but the guitars provide this enveloping set of textures, and that's what can give songs a little bit of a haunt or darkness at certain times.
The vocals sort of change up here and there. This song, for example, the vocals have a floatier kind of feel, especially during the first half of the song.
They do get more intense and belt out further later on, but I love how there are a lot of parts during this track where you have a semi-aggressive set of guitar tones that are still providing this deepening shoegaze rock sort of feel, and the vocals are floaty and high-pitched.
Sounds like "Firing Squad" can give off elements of post-punk instrumentally, while vocally, the singing comes through with this animated approach that feels semi-theatrical.
Like I said before, you want to listen to the whole album because if you just listen to a few songs, you're not getting the big picture or all of the different sides to how the band performs and writes their songs.
There are interludes that are just on guitar throughout the record, and these pieces of music give a very expansive underbelly and help soak in the next set of songs that come after them.
This all leads back to the fact that this feels completely like a concept album.
If you listen to the record, you will see what I mean, but of course, I didn't write it, so I can't be sure it is an actual concept album.
It certainly feels that way, and it's up to you to decide when you hear it.
I love the instrumental guitar pieces that have that widened and spacious set of tones because they also keep you within the realm of the atmosphere that the record provides.
They're like calm before the storm.
Very unique songwriting and approach to a record that has a progressive rock feel, but an almost grungy, alternative rock sound at times.
These elements and combinations make it very unique, and don't get me wrong, some songs stand on their own two feet very well as singles. Tracks like "Marching Orders" send heavy-handed messages and are performed with a vivacious energy, but still have this edgy-catchiness.
For me, this is an album that you listen to all in one shot.
It just makes more sense this way, and again, I suggest you do the same.
Check this record out as soon as you can and remember where you heard it first.
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