Label: Frontiers Music Srl.
Release date: January 22, 2021
Production: Jason Bieler
Album length: 56.49 min
Genre: Progressive Metal / Art Rock
Rating: 9.0/10
Can you even squeeze in a longer artist name? Jason Bieler, the guy fans of the glam rockers Saigon Kick know inside out, clearly wanted to hammer home that The Age of Apocalypse is a special record. Bieler has written a pile of songs over the years, he’s basically the figure you can’t imagine Saigon Kick without, and his résumé includes stints in Karnivool, Sikth and Nonpoint, but Songs for the Apocalypse is only Bieler’s first official solo album.
So the man put the whole thing together by himself. He played and sang most of it, but he also roped in a squad of top-tier musical names who make up the cream of today’s metal crop. Let’s quickly run through the most “shining” ones: Todd LaTorre (Queensrÿche), Devin Townsend, Ron Thal “Bumblefoot” (Sons of Apollo), Pat Badger (Extreme), Butch Walker (ex-Marvelous 3), Dave Ellefson (Megadeth), Clint Lowery (Sevendust), Benji Webbe (Skindred) and Kyle Sanders (Hellyeah).
As you’d expect, “Songs for he Apocalypse”, an album with a title that feels pretty fitting for these times, is a wildly dynamic piece of work, and a cleverly balanced one too, meaning that alongside the dynamics it carries a serious dose of listenable appeal. Even though its center of gravity is (to put it boldly) progressive metal, the compositional detours give the album a distinctly art rock flavor. That’s hardly surprising. Bieler is a one-of-a-kind musician, and really the tipping point of the scales, breathing a touch of eclecticism into the nature of the songs. That’s why this album is refreshingly different from what we usually expect from the “progressive metal” label. There’s a ton of musical pomp. Especially with the volume Bieler reaches in the production’s soundscape through the harmonies on the main vocal lines. You can find this kind of choir-like theatricality in, say, Devin Townsend’s arranging style. Saigon Kick fans will also recognize and fall in love with Bieler’s style right away, which the opener Apology already signals in its infectious chorus. But the following Bring Out Your Dead warns you that this is an album full of colorful arrangement detours. The song is vibrantly dark, even heavier, and “Crazy Devy” takes care of its lucid content with his guitar soloing. But that’s just the beginning of the album. Let’s skim through the rest. In Anthem For Loosers and Alone in the World, fans of classic Saigon Kick will quickly find themselves on the same wavelength again. Even though the songs are progressively “riddled” in their rhythmic keys, it’s the fully developed pomp of the vocal lines that will lead them there. In Beyond Hope the songwriter also buddies up with hints of salsa and Latin melodies, and there’s no shortage of lucid fun in the brilliant, cabaret- and chanson-flavored Crab Claw Dan either. Stones Will Fly is a stripped-down rock affair that even detours toward post-grunge, and a Foo Fighters fan might raise an eyebrow at it too. On the other side, Born of the Sun, more bristling in its lead phrase, is a great example of how a blend of progressiveness, anthemic power and gloominess can deliver a seriously predatory vibe. Then there’s Very Fine People, which adds great variety to the album’s picture and would fit right in on an acoustic singer-songwriter record. Though most likely, such an album would bore Bieler to tears.
What really draws you in on this album is the brilliant symbiosis of countless theatrical twists and moods that come out of the melting pot of genre-blending, and Bieler clearly had to put a good deal of effort into pulling off such a balance on the record. At the same time, it has an extremely listenable appeal that never lets up across the whole runtime of this insightfully varied and loosened-up album. It just goes to show how highly talented and musically sharp this special musician is. Especially when it comes to songwriting.
“Songs for the Apocalypse” is an achievement that won’t bore you for a second. It’s an album that confirms Bieler’s musical breadth and total artistic freedom, and as such it suffers no creative limits. It’s an eclectic piece of work that surprises and entertains mostly thanks to its genre-blending, and despite all the stylistic leaps Bieler masterfully keeps all of his songwriting credibility intact, which gives the record a highly compact, punchy statement.
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Tracklist:
1. Never Ending Circle
2. Apology
3. Bring Out Your Dead
4. Annalise
5. Stones Will Fly
6. Down In A Hole
7. Anthem For Losers
8. Horror Wobbles The Hippo
9. Beyond Hope
10. Crab Claw Dan
11. Born Of The Sun
12. Baby Driver
13. Alone In The World
14. Very Fine People
15. Fkswyso
Lineup:
Jason Bieler – vocals and all instruments
Guest musicians:
Jeff Scott Soto – vocals on track no. 13
Benji Webbe – vocals on track no. 9
Devin Townsend – guitar solo on track no. 3
Andee Blacksugar – guitar solo on track no. 2
Butch Walker – guitar solo and additional guitars on track no. 5
Stephen Gibb – additional guitars on track no. 6
Emil Werstler – guitar solos and guitar ‘soundscapes’ on track no. 8
Ron ‘Bumblefoot’ Thal – guitar solo on track no. 9
Clint Lovely – guitar solo on track no. 11
David Ellefson – bass guitar on tracks no. 3 and 9
Pat Badger – bass guitar on track no. 5
Kevin Scott – bass guitar on tracks no. 2 and 4
Kyle Sanders – bass guitar on tracks no. 6 and 11
Clay Cook – bass guitar, piano, guitar on track no. 7
Todd LaTorre – drums on track no. 2
Edu Cominato – drums on tracks no. 3, 6 and 11
Ricky Sanders – drums on tracks no. 5, 7, 9 and 13
