I expected to like this based on hearing a few Moonraker songs in recent years. But this is definitely my surprise record or “new [to me]” find of the year so far.
If you’ve read my other reviews, you know I generally think intro tracks are worthless. But, in this case, I take it back. “Incendium” is the best intro I’ve heard since “Tragedy Ghouls” in terms of setting a mood. It also kind of motivates me to finally watch Better Call Saul, which is neither here nor there.
The Forest builds momentum right away and then it delivers with anguished, emotional punk that’s equally inward and outward looking, reflective and sociopolitical. To distill it down, I think they sound somewhat like a mix of Needles//Pins and Dead Bars with a bit of NOFX influence that boosts the energy level from its downer lyrics.
And those lyrics are anything but subtle, with desperate cries of “It only hurts when I car / It only hurts because I always care” (“Crickets”) and, later “I cried the whole way home,” which is basically the setup for “In Confidence.” We even get some crickets and rain sounds mixed in to reinforce it. It’s heavy stuff, on paper, but instead of coming across as over the top, the call and response vocals and furious drumming offset the pain with something more like catharsis, or at least relief.
The band uses those heavy-handed statements to their advantage. The lyrics use repetition frequently, but carefully. Sometimes they throw a curveball or play on words when you don’t expect it (see “Crickets” above, or suddenly swapping “dreams” for “jeans” in “Fogdancing”). Otherwise, repetition is intentionally done for effect rather than filler. Much like the monolog in the intro, it has a blunt message but it’s really an accent to the musical base. And that base is dynamic and uplifting. Through everything, it’s David Green’s vocal inflection that connects the dots. Instead of soundly like the bands namedropped earlier, these subtle movements bring the right energy and attitude to the forefront and give The Forest its own powerful identity.
Moonraker seems to have been paying attention to their favorite bands. But I don’t mean that it’s derivative. I mean they’ve studied songcraft and know when and how to make what’s old sound new again -- which is the magic of punk rock which, otherwise, is essentially a three-chord formula that everybody and your parents already beat into the ground.
