Album Review: Andrew Jackson Jihad - 'Christmas Island'

By usual standards Andrew Jackson Jihad have been a pretty busy band, consistently releasing a record every two years since their inception. Latest, 'Christmas Island,' follows along with their usual formula, a hazed mix of acoustic ballads and gutter punk, brashly pushed together with an air of smugness aimed directly at society.

Usually the group takes a humorous view when it comes to their lyrical content however something about the new record seems far more serious, a little more mature even. The lyrics are coming from what seems like a place of frustration mixed with a serious amount of insecurity.

Opener 'Temple Grandin' is a fuzzy acoustic surf rock waltz that speaks of a time when life was much simpler, like the stone-age, while a beautiful piano line cuts through the haze to distract from the mess below it. Things clean up for 'Children Of God' however, the pace stays the same in what is structured to be oddly familiar of Don Mclean's American Pie.

The social commentary comes in hard and fast on the acoustic ballad 'Getting Naked, Playing With Guns', a track that points out how seriously messed up American suburban life can be. The super fuzz of tracks like 'Kokopelli Face Tattoo' seem to suit the vocal stylings of frontman Sean Bonnette a little more than the acoustic numbers in which he seems like he is attempting to be a slightly more obscure version of Max Bemis.

Things get a little spaghetti western on 'Deathlessness' before closing off with a piano rock number titled 'Angel Of Death', a slower paced song but also an album highlight as it seems like a modern day version of something you would have heard in Cheers.

This record doesn't deviate that much from what we already know about Andrew Jackson Jihad with the exception of it being a little darker and more mature. It is fairly diverse and dynamic within itself. However, if you are not akin to its rough folk punk it will become tiresome very quickly.

1. Temple Grandin

2. Children Of God

3. Do, Re, And Me

4. Coffin Dance

5. Getting Naked, Playing with Guns

6. I Wanna Rock Out in My Dreams

7. Kokopelli Face Tattoo

8. Best Friend

9. Linda Ronstadt

10. Deathlessness

11. Temple Grandin Too

12. Angel of Death