Album Review: August Burns Red and Silverstein - 'Four Minutes of Being Cool'

Four Minutes of Being Cool is a split that sees hardcore and post-hardcore regulars August Burns Red and Silverstein team up to tackle covers of popular emo punk bands Saves the Day and The Get Up Kids. It seems an unusual ploy given the stark differences between the two genres, and at times their incompatibility is glaringly obvious. Nevertheless, both bands manage to pull it off to a certain extent, with Silverstein’s take on emo’s angsty break-up songs coming out on top as a surprising success.

In Silverstein’s cover of The Get Up Kids’ ‘Coming Clean’ Silverstein trade in their post-hardcore styling for a distinct pop punk sensibility. This being said, they stay true to their genre with the occasional chugging guitar and overall heavy sound. This cover is an inspiring adaptation of the original, with the vocalist fitting especially well into the emo-pop punk mold. It’s a wonderful thing when a band is able to extend their talents outside their own genre, and Silverstein achieve this with ‘Coming Clean,’ proving they possess a flexibility that has been and will continue to be the reason for their persistent success.

In August Burns Red’s version of ‘You Vandal’ the band stick like glue to their hardcore habits, turning Saves The Day’s teenage anthem into a mish-mash of metal guitars and deep growly vocals that all together feels a bit odd for the subject matter and only occasionally lets up into a cleaner, more post-hardcore style that is slightly more convincing. Fans of August Burns Red, who dominate their genre in every way, are sure to appreciate, but others may feel the cover falls short and detracts from the likeability of the original.

In the past few years we have seen the resurrection of ‘emo’ occur parallel to the rise of the pop punk craze. Four Minutes of Being Cool is an imrpessive nod at two bands that planted the roots for the craze as well as proving that hardcore and emo can be interspersed in a way that is explosive and effective. While August Burns Red's contribution lets the split down slightly, Silverstein's cover of 'Coming Clean' is brilliant. 

Silverstein

Coming Clean (The Get Up Kids cover)

August Burns Red

The Vandal (Saves the Day cover)