iwrestledabearonce – Hail Mary review

iwrestledabearonce are a band which have picked up a bit of hate during their career, mostly due to their wackiness and people simply not taking them seriously, what with the band’s name and their song titles, with examples such as “Tastes Like Kevin Bacon”, “You Know That Ain’t Them Dogs Real Voices”, “That’s a Horse of a Different Color”, and so on. Looking past the hate though, the band do make good music personally; they’re experimental in their music and add a bit of comedy into their songs. The latest album to come from them however shows the band maturing, similar to the way that The Devil Wears Prada matured with their 2011 release “Dead Throne”. Gone now are the wacky song titles and crazy bridges made of twangy country guitars and whinnying horses, and in with more serious titles and just as serious songs musically – personally however I like both the older IWABO and the new. “Hail Mary” also sees the band releasing their first album with their new label Artery Records.

The opening track and first single to come from the album “Gift of Death” begins with the recognisable sound of the strange time signatures and “far too fast for human hands” guitars – or if you want to talk genres, the mathcore sound – that iwrestledabearonce do. The song features a multitude of breakdowns and the usual mid-section odd intervals, which in this song is, as some have described, a strange and eery talking.

The third track and second song to be accompanied by a music video is “Green Eyes” is the first on the album to combine the heavy the typical IWABO sound with a more melodic one, with a nice blend of heavy guitar chugging with a light melodic picking in the background, all coming together for the songs chorus, where LaPlante swaps out the harsh vocals for singing.

“Erase it All”, the fourth track, deserves a mention simply for containing one of the best and most brutal outros to a song of the year so far, with an all out barrage of guitars and drums, backed up by the combined vocals of LaPlante and Suicide Silence’s Eddie Hermida.

At the halfway point of the 14 track album is “Doomed to Fail Part 2”, which I have nicknamed the albums breather track, in that it is an entirely melodic track with, despite a heavier guitar sound towards the end, an overall chilled out and relaxed feel to give the listener a chance to calm down after hearing the previous six tracks. This is obviously needed too, as the song is followed on by “Killed to Death”, which is simply an onslaught to the ears straight from the get go– in a good way, of course.

As an album overall, I feel that it is the band’s best work to date and that it really shows the band’s maturity while still keeping their older sound – rather than simply sacrificing it and starting from scratch. One complaint I have with the album could just be due to a fault on my end, but I feel like some of the songs can be heard and you’re left asking yourself “Which song was that? What was it called?” But again, that could just be me or it could be because I haven’t listened to the album just enough.

Top tracks for me are “Gift of Death”, “Green Eyes”, “Erase It All”, “Killed to Death”, “Man of Virtue”, “Wade In The Water”, and “Your God is too Small”.

Iwrestledabearonce – Hail Mary

1. Gift of Death

2. Remain Calm

3. Green Eyes

4. Erase It All

5. Curse the Spot

6. Doomed to Fail Part 1

7. Doomed to Fail Part 2

8. Killed to Death

9. Trips

10. Man of Virtue

11. Carbon Copy