For I Am – It’s… ‘All About Perspectives’
For I Am – Belgium.
For I Am are a band from Belgium. They are band that quite unashamedly state (or admit) that the world probably didn’t need another Pop-Punk band. However, as is obvious they chose to form one anyway and have since elected to break a silence of two years in favour of their first full-length, All About Perspectives.
In many ways they are right, Pop-Punk (and Punk in general for that matter) has taken huge steps forward in the last ten years and to say that the scene is oversaturated does have some credit.
Well then, For I Am shouldn’t have been so inconsiderate as to write an album is actually rather pleasing. Bastards.
‘Simpleton For President’ has an obviously topic and breaks in the album the only way this band know how, on a fast and old-school leaning Pop-Punk foundation with all the sweet and soaring melodies of its latter form
Upon pressing play on the press-kit and advanced tracks I could help but feel a likeness to a band that were, are and likely always will be a staple of melodic Punk-Rock music, Strung Out. It was unsurprising then to find out that the band have had the privilege of opening for the veterans not once but three times.
The whirling lead guitars of ‘Nightburn’ and its bitter-sweet melodic guitar lines in the chorus’ could easily have been on the early Strung Out full lengths and with that, ‘Or Was It Steve’ isn’t far behind either.
On a related note, the side project of Strung Out guitarist Rob Ramos, entitled Implants, may well be worth a look if the guitar-work of this release strikes a chord with you.
A notable strength of this release is that it doesn’t follow the Hayley Williams/Paramore formula. Paramore’s earlier records were solid in their often dark Pop-Punk but since the band’s inception and arguably fall from grace, carbon copies or those damn-near have been rife within this newly exploding scene. Paramore’s influence was crucial in inspiration for many but it is a bubble that too many stay within far too often.
With For I Am however, as much as fans of the aforementioned staple would be on board with the album, you hear and indeed feel so much more that that.
With any Pop-Punk full-length, there are bound to be tracks strong in their sonic continuity but still standing as nothing overly notable and overt. In the case of All About Perspectives, the album doesn’t necessarily escape this but also doesn’t necessarily ply itself with so much filler that it becomes and issue.
By the time you get to ‘Laundry Man’ however, any hints that may have been dropped in the way of Skate Punk or even ever-so-slight Melodic Hardcore are now thrown at you completely out of the blue… and it works.
After that unsettling by cathartic onslaught the 90’s Skate Punk sound takes hold again in ‘Home For Summer’. With more in the way of stellar guitar work and the strong and professional coherence the band effortlessly show. you’re feet are safely back on the ground.
‘Home For Summer’ is song about the band’s very adoration for what they do and the scene they in habit and I’d be lying if it didn’t leave a smile on the face of this melancholic reviewer.
After that little glimpse of a band pushing boundaries, the closing three tracks flip back to the playful upbeat Pop-Punk the band stand by which is actually a very apt remark.
Why? Well if this album has taught us anything, it’s that it is still possible to play in another Pop-Punk band that no one asked for; it’s possible too…
Find the band below:
- For updates, head to Facebook.
- For the band’s music to date and the previous EP head to bandcamp and Spotify.
- Digital, CD and Vinyl Copies can also be found via Disconnect Disconnect Records – Here.
- Disconnect Disconnect Records can be found via the following: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Official Website, bandcamp.
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