Choke – There’s A Story To This Moral
(Smallman)

If you’ve seen Edmonton’s Choke perform live, then you should know what to expect from this album. Crazy guitar riffs, melodic singing, and intense drumming, all delivered at extremely high speeds. They may not be as aggressive or as technically insane as, say, Dillinger Escape Plan, but these guys are certainly in a league of their own.

“There’s A Story To This Moral” picks up where their last album “Foreword” left off, and apparently they have no intentions of mellowing out, as they push the energy level even further than before. There aren’t any moments of quiet introspection on this album, and no acoustic songs either. Perhaps they were paranoid about getting the ol’ emo label pinned on them, but whatever the reason, they’ve come back at us, full force.

The lead singer of Choke has a high-pitched nasally voice that has been known to turn some people off, but on this album, other band members make significant vocal contributions as well, which makes for a much more tolerable and harder-edged sound. Songs like “So Far From True”, “Signing Off”, and “Forget To Learn” are among the best songs I’ve heard from these guys, as they take turns singing/screaming with a sense of urgency that not many bands can match. As I listen, I can envision these songs being performed live with a frenzied crowd finger pointing and yelling along to the lyrics.

Choke have been playing together for quite a while now, and it shows in their precision and timing. The music hurtles ahead at breakneck speeds, then without warning stops on a dime before blasting off in a completely different direction.

One complaint about the album is that the production sounds a little thin, particularly with respect to the drumming. An album like this should utterly explode from your speakers, but this one sounds a bit too clean and crisp for my liking.

Although some songs stand out more than others (and specific parts of some songs stand out more than others) this is a pretty solid album from a band who continue to set themselves apart from their mediocre punk and hardcore peers. If you need a good shot of adrenaline in your life, this album should have no trouble getting you worked up into a tizzy. Whatever that means. — Sean

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