Album Review
Defeaters Empty Days and Sleepless Nights
Many are drawn to the idea of using an album to tell a story. Instead of releasing a collection of different themed songs as an album, metal, hardcore, and even punk bands have recently taken to creating ‘Concept’ albums, which focus on one theme throughout. In the realm of concept albums, the theme or story is either extremely well executed, or ends up boring and limiting to the band’s songwriting ability. One of the most complete, thought-out efforts is Empty Days and Sleepless Nights by Boston based hardcore act Defeater.
Empty days and Sleepless Nights is the latest installment of Defeaters storytelling. This album follows their debut, Travels, which followed the life of a broken family, post World War II. In Travels, the band introduces a brother who has killed his father and left his older brother and mother to deal with the aftermath. Through the eyes of the older brother, the aftermath is what this album focuses on. The different struggles endured by the family are laid out in each song. His rage towards his often-called ‘coward’ brother, his mother’s drug addiction, and his recent wife’s death are explained through the first 9 songs. In the tenth and final song of the story, the younger, murderer brother returns home for a climax to remember.
From the first few seconds of opening track “Warm Blood Rush”, it is easy to identify the hardcore-punk style that Defeater plays. Derek Archambault delivers a typical hardcore scream, which is more like a harsh yell. The opening song is marked by Archambault repeating furiously, “I ain’t no forgiver, forgetter” as the song picks up the story from Travels with no confusion to who the new speaker is. The song describes the older brothers thirst for revenge and his refusal to forgive his coward brother. The line, “those same rail ties where you dodged those trains. When we were just two kids” holds an important scene, the train tracks return later in the story.
The second and third tracks, "Dear Father" and "Waves Crash, Clouds Roll" continue the story with trashy instrumentation, fast drum fills, and emotional vocals. "Dear Father" is the only single on the album, mainly because it's the only song that contains a chorus/verse structure. The song basically continues "Warm Blood Rush" with the older brother swearing revenge. Track three describes the older brothers hardships at home with his mother. His mothers life is seemingly in ruins following her husbands death, "her weak will, the addiction, the needle" shows the sons pity for his mother, but also his resentment towards her weakness.
Next, the older brother meets his wife. He has started to drink on a regular basis at a place called "The Copper Coin" and it is here he meets his future wife. The straight-forward lyrics describe the situation, " An empty or a half full glass, it all goes down the same. And that's the way that it's been, years later she took your name". However, the marriage does not fill him with the hapiness it should in "No Kind of Home", track 5. The song describes the fighting that goes on in the house and his increasing visits to The Copper Coin.
Track 6, "White Knuckles", is a turning point in the album. Foreshadowed earlier by his fathers debt problem that he died with, this song describes a bookie hunting down the brother at The Copper Coin. The druken brother narrates the confrontation, "Take one more look at her, and it will be the end of your days. You low-life bookie, you don't scare me. I ain't settling no debt, I ain't saving no face". A fight breakes out and the brother stays at the bar extra late. When he returns home, he finds his wife murdered. Drowned in remorse, he is about to give up on life. Track 7 is "Cemetary Walls" which tells about the brothers daily visits to his wifes grave. He would drink, then go to the grave and talk to her.
The following two tracks, "Quiet the Longing" and "At Peace", deal with the mother again. "Quiet the Longing" is a song describing the brother giving into his mothers demand for drugs for the sake of her being quiet. In "At peace", the brother wakes to find his mother dead, "needle in her arm". The final words to this song transition to the final track, "So you sit in that chair, waiting for death, barrel to your head".
The last song is called "White Oak Doors". The song is a suspensful end to a well-crafted story. It begins with the older brother hearing a knock at his door and opening it to find his younger brother for the first time since the murder. Overcome with fury and revenge, the older brother recits, "Your addict mother is dead, all thanks to you. Her addiction got worse after you left you damn fool. What you did to our father, I promised you'd pay up. I'm going to take your life, but it don't feel like enough". The older brother then proceeds to stick "a gun in his back" and lead him down to the same train tracks that they played on when they were kids. The line, " But this time, the dodge ain't going to end so pretty. Either a bullet or that train steaming just ahead is going to end your days", paints a scene very clearly. From here, the song is getting increasingly louder and building up. As the build up gets more and more intense, the younger brother turns the tables on the older one so that they're both in the path of the train. The song is getting louder and louder as the train aproaches, but the older brother simply states, "You don't cry, you don't beg. You've been waiting for this". As the song reaches the line "I rather die at the hands of my own family", the song abrupty stops, mid measure and in the middle of the word "family so that it's "fami". This is the end of the album, unless you count the 17 minutes of silence following the end of track ten.
Finally, the last four songs are acoustic tracks that re-tell some of the stories, just in more-listenable form. "Brothers" tells of the boys playing on the tracks while they were young, "I don't mind" descrbes the good times of when the older brother and wife were married. This song is basically a soft version of "Empty glass" which showed up at track four. Finally, "Headstone" is an acoustic "Cemetary Walls" as it tells the story of the older brother visiting his wifes grave.
Overall, Empty days and Sleepless Nights is an album that goes beyond expectations. It's creative and versitile. From screamed vocals to acoustic songs, Defeater includes multiple genres. This is a very strong effort by not your typical hardcore band, like a breath of fresh air, Defeater impresses.
The second and third tracks, "Dear Father" and "Waves Crash, Clouds Roll" continue the story with trashy instrumentation, fast drum fills, and emotional vocals. "Dear Father" is the only single on the album, mainly because it's the only song that contains a chorus/verse structure. The song basically continues "Warm Blood Rush" with the older brother swearing revenge. Track three describes the older brothers hardships at home with his mother. His mothers life is seemingly in ruins following her husbands death, "her weak will, the addiction, the needle" shows the sons pity for his mother, but also his resentment towards her weakness.
Next, the older brother meets his wife. He has started to drink on a regular basis at a place called "The Copper Coin" and it is here he meets his future wife. The straight-forward lyrics describe the situation, " An empty or a half full glass, it all goes down the same. And that's the way that it's been, years later she took your name". However, the marriage does not fill him with the hapiness it should in "No Kind of Home", track 5. The song describes the fighting that goes on in the house and his increasing visits to The Copper Coin.
Track 6, "White Knuckles", is a turning point in the album. Foreshadowed earlier by his fathers debt problem that he died with, this song describes a bookie hunting down the brother at The Copper Coin. The druken brother narrates the confrontation, "Take one more look at her, and it will be the end of your days. You low-life bookie, you don't scare me. I ain't settling no debt, I ain't saving no face". A fight breakes out and the brother stays at the bar extra late. When he returns home, he finds his wife murdered. Drowned in remorse, he is about to give up on life. Track 7 is "Cemetary Walls" which tells about the brothers daily visits to his wifes grave. He would drink, then go to the grave and talk to her.
The following two tracks, "Quiet the Longing" and "At Peace", deal with the mother again. "Quiet the Longing" is a song describing the brother giving into his mothers demand for drugs for the sake of her being quiet. In "At peace", the brother wakes to find his mother dead, "needle in her arm". The final words to this song transition to the final track, "So you sit in that chair, waiting for death, barrel to your head".
The last song is called "White Oak Doors". The song is a suspensful end to a well-crafted story. It begins with the older brother hearing a knock at his door and opening it to find his younger brother for the first time since the murder. Overcome with fury and revenge, the older brother recits, "Your addict mother is dead, all thanks to you. Her addiction got worse after you left you damn fool. What you did to our father, I promised you'd pay up. I'm going to take your life, but it don't feel like enough". The older brother then proceeds to stick "a gun in his back" and lead him down to the same train tracks that they played on when they were kids. The line, " But this time, the dodge ain't going to end so pretty. Either a bullet or that train steaming just ahead is going to end your days", paints a scene very clearly. From here, the song is getting increasingly louder and building up. As the build up gets more and more intense, the younger brother turns the tables on the older one so that they're both in the path of the train. The song is getting louder and louder as the train aproaches, but the older brother simply states, "You don't cry, you don't beg. You've been waiting for this". As the song reaches the line "I rather die at the hands of my own family", the song abrupty stops, mid measure and in the middle of the word "family so that it's "fami". This is the end of the album, unless you count the 17 minutes of silence following the end of track ten.
Finally, the last four songs are acoustic tracks that re-tell some of the stories, just in more-listenable form. "Brothers" tells of the boys playing on the tracks while they were young, "I don't mind" descrbes the good times of when the older brother and wife were married. This song is basically a soft version of "Empty glass" which showed up at track four. Finally, "Headstone" is an acoustic "Cemetary Walls" as it tells the story of the older brother visiting his wifes grave.
Overall, Empty days and Sleepless Nights is an album that goes beyond expectations. It's creative and versitile. From screamed vocals to acoustic songs, Defeater includes multiple genres. This is a very strong effort by not your typical hardcore band, like a breath of fresh air, Defeater impresses.
