The Living End - State Of Emergency

It’s been 11 years since The Living End broke into the musical scene, blowing crowds away with their fierce live rockabilly/punk fusion performances. They have since evolved into one of Australia’s hardest working rock bands, touring the arse off each and every album since for years at a time. Playing with the likes of AC/DC, The Offspring, Blink 182 and The Vans Warped Tour just to name a few, they have become renowned for their blistering live sets.

And now here it is, their fourth full length release, State of Emergency. I anticipated their follow up to _Modern Artillery _with baited breath, wondering how much different was this one going to be? Would they stray from the true rock path like they did with Modern Artillery in another (successful) attempt to show depth and character? Do they have the ability to produce yet another kick arse, no-holds-barred and many hits album?

My slight worry was allayed straight away with the first track ‘Til The End. With the opening twang of guitar, it hits you in the face like a freight train at full speed. A song to inspire you by, you’ll be shouting along to the lyrics as singer/guitarist and chief songwriter Chris Cheney belts out,

‘Til the end, ‘til the end
I’m never gonna give up- ‘til the end, ‘til the end
Not gonna stop until I’ve tried, not until I’m satisfied
Until I get what I want, ‘til I get what i need
Until I get what I want

This is what we’ve been waiting to hear, surely what The End are best known for, raw unadulterated rock n roll! Without skipping a beat they career straight into Long Live The Weekend, a familiar track from the band, bemoaning the stresses and endless monotony of work, looking forward to getting away for the weekend. Yet another nitrous injected song that flies along at a million miles an hour. One of the greatest aspects of watching The Living End play, whether it be a sold out gig at The Enmore Theatre in Sydney, under a different moniker like ‘The Longnecks’ in a smaller venue such as The Annandale or at an outdoor festival, they never fail to disappoint the crowd. It’s so easy to see why they attract so many new admirers each time they play. Even Cheney admits “That’s why we had to make a good record this time, because we’re tired of having this reputation of being a killer live band and I don’t think we matched it in the studio, I don’t think we’ve matched what the level where people see us in a live sense to what they see in our recording. Even though we’ve had hit records, gold records, I just felt that was probably the area that needed improvement. I feel at the end of our career you’re not left with the live thing, you’re left with the music you made.”

So finally they have managed to capture the essence from their high energy live performances and nail it in the studio, and when your turn your stereo up to full volume it will sound as if lightning is about to erupt from the speakers.

Phew! Time to take a breather as they slow down the pace a little on No Way Out. It starts off with melancholy guitar then works its way through to a solid riff and pounding drums. It sounds like Cheney has been working on his vocals as they really complement the guitar on this one. This is the kind of song you will have stuck in your head for days, singing

‘Will we ever get back home?’ Will we ever get back home?’

while the smooth vocal harmonies intertwine with mellow guitar to create an indelible tune.

Straight back into it, We Want More picks up the pace again with a sound very reminiscent of their debut self titled release.

Once again the lads turned to producer Nick Launay who has worked with a world of talent including Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Tim Finn and silverchair, just to name a few. He worked with the band on their second album Roll On and although it shows, its not to say State of Emergency sounds exactly the same. What is evident is the amount of hard labour that went into making sure each song went in a particular direction without detracting too far from the big picture. Nick’s influence is clearly appreciated, as Andy admits, “We set out to have it recorded in three weeks, and have it mixed and ready to go in six, but it didn’t quite end up that way.” So the idea to go in, lay everything down very quickly and get out again was soon left on the cutting room floor. What Launay promises is loud guitars, loud drums, maximum bass, in your face vocals, glued together with as much colour as the ears can hear! He definitely delivers those qualities here!

Which brings us to the second single Wake Up. For those of you who haven’t already heard it, (I hear its currently on high rotation on most radio) Wake Up depicts another common theme the band love to sing about, politics and the state of our nation. Not one to be shy when it comes to telling it how he sees it, Cheney has in the past sung about subjects involving the plight of social development in our own backyard. Such as in All Torn Down, unionism in Riot on Broadway and most distinctably the invasion of East Timor in Revolution Regained and that’s only touching the surface. And yet again the rebel voice within is unleashed to project his dismay at the misguided education of our youth, a cry to the world that everything isn’t all right. These are the type of songs the kids of today love to latch onto. Teen angst anthems seem to just keep rollin’ off Chris Cheney’s tongue but in this case its not a bad thing. The Living End continue to attract a large amount of teenage fans, it seems like at every show there always seems to be more and more new recruits. Maybe it’s for this reason why they’re oft compared to the likes of Green Day.

The first single What’s On Your Radio is followed up by Nothing Lasts Forever – my favourite track of the album – for its simple guitar riffs and allround feel good hit of the summer vibe. To me it’s the obvious choice for their next single, it has that instant likeability about it. A tale of love gone wrong, it will pull at your heart strings yet make you feel good at the same time, similar to Pearl Jam’s Daughter or Betterman, very easy to relate to.

One Step Behind is another song that garners a lot of influence, this time from the likes of The Police. However, it may start off with guitar licks and vocal stylings reminiscent of the early eighties, it soon transforms into a wall of sound as the tempo picks up a notch and you are inundated by a very raucous horn section courtesy of The Hunters and Collectors.

From here on in (no pun intended) the rest of the album is very traditional, sound jagged around the edges and bursting with huge riffs and solos from abrasive guitar and double bass. While Order of The Day certainly has that Phil Spector-like, sixties psychedelia sound, Reborn and Nowhere Town are flat out customary and familiar songs adorned with enough flare to keep even the seasoned The Living End fan happy. Its obvious Chris has been honing his signature guitar solos as this is extremely noticeable in the title track _State of Emergency.
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The last two tracks, Black Cat and Into the Red are very balls to the wall, full on tunes that will have your blood pumping and your fists thumping the air as you sing along.

With their fourth release, State of Emergency, the lads have come a long way since their debut self titled back in ‘99. Andy has certainly settled into the drummer’s seat, bringing his own style to the party and managing to absolutely annihilate those skins with utmost bravado. Scotty completes the entourage on double bass giving the band sound direction and depth.

In the words of Chris Cheney himself, this album certainly towers above anything else they’ve done so far. Its slick, its smooth, its fast paced rock n roll that doesn’t stray for a minute. State of Emergency will definitely be a hard act to follow!