{"id":58877,"date":"2018-04-12T19:15:57","date_gmt":"2018-04-12T18:15:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/?p=58877"},"modified":"2018-04-12T19:57:24","modified_gmt":"2018-04-12T18:57:24","slug":"review-animal-flag-void-ripper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-animal-flag-void-ripper\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Animal Flag \u2013 Void Ripper"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Void-Ripper.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-58878 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Void-Ripper-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Void-Ripper-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Void-Ripper-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Void-Ripper-600x600.jpg 600w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Void-Ripper-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Void-Ripper-465x465.jpg 465w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Void-Ripper-500x500.jpg 500w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Void-Ripper.jpg 700w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>While there are some weighty themes flying around\u00a0<em>\u2018Void Ripper\u2019 <\/em>it is,<em>\u00a0<\/em>essentially, an album about faith, mortality, and self-realisation.\u00a0Consequently, much of it is open to interpretation, meaning\u00a0there\u2019s plenty of mileage to be gained from <strong>Animal Flag<\/strong>\u2019s breakout, even if faith and religion\u00a0is something of an alien concept.<\/p>\n<p>Combining the cathartic shredding of The Hotelier and the considered ruminations of Manchester Orchestra, <em>\u2018Void Ripper\u2019<\/em> is an album of frenetic highs and deep lows. If the adored <em>\u2018LP\u2019<\/em> provided much of the blueprint to <strong>Animal Flag<\/strong>\u2019s current sound,<em> \u2018Void Ripper\u2019<\/em> sees songwriter and vocalist Matthew Politoski tearing up what went before and piecing it back together from a long-since faded draft. It\u2019s still the same band, but one from a darker, less forgiving, timeline.<\/p>\n<p>Yet <em>\u2018Void Ripper\u2019<\/em> is far from impenetrable. The immediacy of cuts such as <em>\u2018Candace\u2019<\/em> and<em> \u2018I Can Hear You Laugh\u2019<\/em> is striking, while it doesn\u2019t take much work to figure out what<em> \u2018Stray\u2019<\/em> \u2013 a story of a stray dog wandering the streets free from its master \u2013 is all about. <strong>Animal Flag<\/strong> may deal in imagery and parable, but they also know how to wring emotion from every conceivable turn, and for all the lyrical high watermarks, it\u2019s still an album that pulls on the emotional heartstrings. It\u2019s in these moments \u2013 like the cataclysmic <em>\u2018Five\u2019<\/em> \u2013 where it hits hardest.<\/p>\n<p><iframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=611989319\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=333333\/tracklist=false\/artwork=small\/transparent=true\/\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" seamless=\"\"><a href=\"http:\/\/animalflag.bandcamp.com\/album\/void-ripper\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Void Ripper by Animal Flag<\/a><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Consequently, <em>\u2018Void Ripper\u2019<\/em> is an important album that&#8217;s unafraid to tackle some complicated topics. Yet it\u2019s also an album that possess moments of edifying beauty. That these moments are often offset against some blunt lyrics means there\u2019s little escape from the sombre mood \u2013 and further proof that you can expect to go through the wringer before you reach the other side.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s no glorifying of the internal struggle here, either. When Politoski asks for someone to &#8220;<em>Take a sharp stone to my chest&#8221;<\/em> on <em>\u2018Lord of Pain\u2019,<\/em> it feels like an insurmountable defeat rather than a nod to an expectant crowd. It\u2019s a fine line between emotion and melodrama, but <em>\u2018Void Ripper\u2019<\/em> walks it perfectly.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, its tortured nature exemplifies the confused mind-set of Politoski as he tries to reconcile his past, present and future. It\u2019s a story of hard-won truths that lingers long after the final notes\u00a0have faded.\u00a0Few records\u00a0possess such long-lasting and profound power.<\/p>\n<p>4.5\/5<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2018Void Ripper\u2019<\/em> by <strong>Animal Flag<\/strong> is released on 13<sup>th<\/sup> April on <strong>Triple Crown Records<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Animal Flag<\/strong> links: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/animalflag\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/animalflag\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/animalflag.bandcamp.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bandcamp<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Words by Rob Mair (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BobNightMair\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@BobNightMair<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Much of &#8216;Void Ripper&#8217; is open to interpretation, meaning\u00a0there\u2019s plenty of mileage to be gained from Animal Flag\u2019s breakout<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":58887,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[4319,15184,202,15185],"class_list":["post-58877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-reviews","tag-album-review","tag-animal-flag","tag-triple-crown-records","tag-void-ripper"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - 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