First Impression: The Gaslight Anthem - American Slang

You can classify records in a number of categories. There are classic records. There are pop records. There are records you can have fun with and mindlessly sing along with. There are records that you can sit and dissect thoughtfully. With American Slang, the Jersey boys in The Gaslight Anthem have made an album that fits into all these niches, creating along with it the most important record of 2010 thus far.

Fans of 2008's breakout '59 Sound shouldn't worry. Songs like "American Slang", "Orphans", and "The Spirit of Jazz" are the hard-charging anthemic punk songs you've come to love from the band. The characters, such as The Cool, Queen of Lower Chelsea and The Boxer, are injected with life...a telling sign of the storytelling ability that vaults Brian Fallon above many other contemporary lyricists.

While retaining all the qualities that so many people hold the band near and dear to their hearts, they've also built on it. Refined their sound greatly, the tracks have many more memorable lead guitar lines (see personal highlight "Stay Lucky" and "The Queen of Lower Chelsea") and far less filler, producing a record that's truly quality from front to back. The guys even take a stab at some slower numbers and execute them remarkably well. The jazzy doo-wop of "The Diamond Church Street Choir" shows off the band's new found versatility through an incredible restraint and "Bring It On" is 101 on how to build a song until is blast point. The biggest chance is taken on closer "We Did It When We Were Young," a pseudo power-ballad. Yet Fallon's straining howl adds a more lonesome and fragile element to the track's nostalgia...proving once again that these guys can spin thread into gold.

There's such a lack of substance in modern music that a release like this isn't just nice, but needed. The real beauty in American Slang is as harmonious as it is thoughtful. As simple as it complex. So when Fallon sings "Don't sing me your songs about the good times/those days are gone and you should just let them go", you can hold up your copy of American Slang and know that there's still hope for all us music fans out there.

Buy: The Gaslight Anthem - American Slang

MySpace: The Gaslight Anthem