The post-Rumble, ahem, posts continue as we dive into the digital discog of Preliminary Night 1 opener Graveyard Of The Atlantic! And what a discog it is! With a wealth of material to choose from, there’s bound to be something here for yourself or to gift your most favorite Indie/Alt/Rawk fan. But why choose when you can get it all for $12??? Read on for why that makes the most sense.
You can start at the beginning (On Bandcamp, at least) with 2017’s Revelation featuring the title track and “Cleanup Hitter”, both of which are big broody Rawk-fests that subscribe to an Alt/Indie mentality that would seem to share the same sonic trajectory with R.E.M. (More towards a New Adventures In Hi-Fi path and less the Up and beyond way…). There’s also the Live At WEMF release which gives a little insight into GOTA’s live sound and, having both worked at WEMF for a short spell and seen Graveyard… live already, can attest to the electricity captured here.
The Panic Room EP is kind of a full realization of the GOTA sound up until then with a collection of tunes that are sorta supreme. “Surrender” is kind of iconic and the kind of stirring opening track that we feel really speaks to the maturity of a band as Dave Debany’s voice and guitar glisten along with Adam Anderson’s guitars to make a powerful opening statement. Following the Live… release, “The Wolf” gets a proper recording and encapsulates that Indie rawk feel as Mike Gonzales and David Deitch’s rhythm section chug along nicely to ground the soaring riffs from Debany and Anderson.
Later on, Graveyard Of The Atlantic has 6 songs that run the gamut of the Graveyard Of The Atlantic sonic experience and their penchant for driving Alt Rawk that, up to this point, has some inspired Bob Mould-like semblance especially on the driving opening track, “Netherland”. Elsewhere, “Life Safety Plan” is an intricately woven somber slow burn with some sick guitar solos and Debany’s echoed voice illuminating the track even more while “New World Vultures” is an electrifying new Alternative anthem.
On the singles side, “Perfect From Now On” is led by Deitch’s thunderous thumping with “This Is Not The Antidote” offering some strong walls of sound from Anderson and Debany before segueing into a gnarly moody number. “Summer Song” and Sebadoh cover “Beauty of the Ride” (Sebadoh) are flip sides of the same magical coin with the former a take on a “summer song” which, in this case, comes off as that introspective end of the night around the fire on a secluded beach kind of ditty while the latter is a pretty straightforward reinterpretation of the Harmacy original. “Point/Counterpoint” is big and beautiful and reminds us of the stadium-sized space Rawk Flickerstick tried to bring to the masses (On 2001’s Welcoming Home The Astronauts and throughout their legendary stint on VH1’s Bands On The Run) while latest single (Paired with the shining “Spinning Plates”), “Exit Interview”, is all that and a bag of Wavy Lay’s.
Graveyard Of The Atlantic’s current Bandcamp discography can be found here and is the best way to prepare you for their upcoming new full-length. For more on that and everything GOTA-related, follow them across the information superhighway by clicking here, here, or here.