{"id":23928,"date":"2014-03-19T13:01:06","date_gmt":"2014-03-19T13:01:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-rust-belt-lights-religion-my-ex\/"},"modified":"2018-03-17T15:33:46","modified_gmt":"2018-03-17T15:33:46","slug":"album-review-rust-belt-lights-religion-my-ex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-rust-belt-lights-religion-my-ex\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Rust Belt Lights – Religion & My Ex"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"image\"One of the biggest drawbacks of dating a musician is that on breaking up, you run the risk of having a song or two written about you. I feel a little sorry for whoever crossed Rust Belt Lights<\/strong>, as \u2018Religion & My Ex\u2019<\/em> boasts no less than ten tracks about a break-up, being left alone or being depressed. Yes, the bitterness is strong here, though fortunately it leads to some quite compelling music.<\/p>\n

Sounding like a blend of Such Gold, Heartsounds and No Trigger, Rust Belt Lights<\/strong> have a fairly typical American punk sound, and this gives them an air of familiarity from the off. \u00a0This accessibility is definitely a plus point, and they\u2019re just different enough to still be appealing in an over-saturated scene.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

This is certainly a bitter album, and while at first the break-up lines are enjoyable, \u201cforever became never suddenly\u201d <\/em>repeat listens reveal that every song takes a similar theme. Of course, this leads to the songs becoming a bit samey, and extended metaphors such as \u201cthe best thing about photographs is that they never change, even when the people in them pick up everything, drop me and move\u201d <\/em>make you wish they\u2019d just let the subject drop. There are also quite a few heavy-handed seasonal metaphors here, but lines such as \u201cyou say nothing ever changes around here but the seasons changed and so do you\u201d<\/em> are no worse than something you might find in a Transit album.<\/p>\n

So naturally, the best songs here are the ones that aren\u2019t taking a crack shot at an ex. Both \u2018Stay Young or Try Dying\u2019<\/em> and \u2018Parkside\u2019<\/em> – songs about introspection, travel and lost youth are without a doubt the strongest ones here. Maybe it\u2019s because they make a refreshing change for the rest, but these songs show that Rust Belt Lights<\/strong> have plenty of other topics to offer.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t a bad album by any stretch, but the endless break-up songs and heavy-handed imagery make it tiresome to listen to over and over. \u2018Religion & My Ex\u2019 <\/em>is a once in a while album, not a stuck-on-repeat choice. Unless you\u2019ve just had a rough break-up that is, then you\u2019ll probably appreciate it more than me.<\/p>\n

3\/5<\/p>\n

\u2018Religion & My Ex\u2019<\/em> by Rust Belt Lights<\/strong> is released on March 24th<\/sup> via Disconnect, Disconnect Records<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Rust Belt Lights<\/strong> links: Facebook<\/a>|Bandcamp<\/a>|Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n

Words by Jay Sullivan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the biggest drawbacks of dating a musician is that on breaking up, you run the risk of having a song or two written about you. I feel a little sorry for whoever crossed Rust Belt Lights, as \u2018Religion & My Ex\u2019 boasts no less than ten tracks about a break-up, being left alone […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23929,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,8181],"tags":[5879,224,10507,10508],"class_list":["post-23928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-reviews","category-post","tag-album-reviews","tag-disconnect-disconnect-records","tag-religion-and-my-ex","tag-rust-belt-lights"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAlbum Review: Rust Belt Lights - Religion & My Ex - Already Heard Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One of the biggest drawbacks of dating a musician is that on breaking up, you run the risk of having a song or two written about you. 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