Album Reviews

- by Tom Dumarey

Disclaimer: I have been a huge fan of these guys ever since I first heard ‘Like A Criminal’ back in 1998. Then again, this shouldn’t come as a surprise seeing as I live in Belgium. Everyone in Belgium likes The Sheila Divine. There’s us, the people in Buffalo and the people in their hometown of Boston. For some bizarre reason, the rest of the world still hasn’t caught on to one of the greatest rock bands around.

That hasn’t stopped them before though, and it won’t stop them now. So The Sheila Divine went ahead and released their fifth album, ‘Beginning Of The End is Where We’ll Start Again’. If you have heard any of their older work, you know what to expect. That is not meant as a diss, they just have their sound and have always been as consistent in being aweome as the rest of the world was consistent in not taking notice. Cuts like opener 'The Beginning Is The End', 'Melancholy, MA' and 'Age Is Just A Number' are vintage Sheila Divine songs. Loud guitars that are as big on reverb as the melodies are big on... well, melody and anxiety-riddled lyrics with the kind of choruses that get lodged in your brain after one listen. Don’t say I haven’t warned you.

I can't imagine ever getting tired of hearing vocalist Aaron Perrino’s near-desperate howls that so perfectly suit the songs which always burst wide open at some point. Always in the most tasteful of ways of course, never landing on the wrong side of bombastic. The only thing a bit different this time around is that on songs like ‘Summer of 93’ and ‘Kurt Cobain,’ they sound downright poppy. If anything, it makes ‘Beginning Of The End Is Where We’ll Start Again’ an even more pleasant - and pretty much flawless - album to spend time with.  

Track listing:

1. The Beginning of the End
2. More Than Suffering
3. Melancholy, MA
4. Summer of 93
5. Blow it up again
6. Age is just a number
7. This Moment. This Place.
8. The Beat Goes On
9. Kurt Cobain
10. Love you to Pieces