For most, growing up is hard to to. The Flatliners have made it look easy. ‘Dead Language’ is the Canadian punks’ fourth record, their third under the Fat Wreck umbrella, and is a natural extension of the sound they began to refine on ‘Cavalcade’.
It’s not as immediate at their last outing, neither is it quite as impressive, but it does underline everything that the Flatliners have become in recent years. Chris Cresswell continues along the path towards greatness with another vocal performance that noisily introduces huge hooks to a belt sander, while the ska layers that populated their first two releases, ‘Destroy To Create’ and ‘The Great Awake’, have been stripped away completely.
What’s left is 13 slices of ferociously melodic, exciting punk rock played by a band that gets leaner and more effective with every month on the road. Paul Ramirez doesn’t miss a thing behind the kit and switches effortlessly between the flat-out speed that characterised some of the band’s early stuff and the more refined pace that has crept into view more regularly since ‘Cavalcade’ landed.
The quality of songwriting here also remains a cut above many of the Flatliners’ contemporaries. While rhythms chop and change at a second’s notice and guitars buzz in and out with similar brevity, the overriding sense of melody always remains.
Resuscitation Of The Year, Caskets Full and Dead Hands all represent the band at their most furious, with gang vocals backing Cresswell’s bark, while their continuing foray into more stripped-back alt-rock territory takes another successful turn with Ashes Away, Birds Of England, a major highlight, and Dead Hands.
The Flatliners have made it four-in-a-row with ‘Dead Language’, underlining their status as one of the most consistently exciting propositions in the punk world. At this rate, they could have a classic back catalogue sewn up inside a decade.
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