Since by Man's "We sing the Body electric" turns 20

 

Labels like "classic", "masterpiece" or "all time favourite" are typed in no time and said even faster... the same counts for a phrase like "...one of the most important records in my life". They loose their effectivness if used to often and I confess, I probably use them way too much in a series like this. But once again, all these phrases fit with a record like "We sing the Body electric".

SINCE BY MAN's debut album was way important to me, no doubt. Being released in 2003 it was part of a very important phase in my life, my musical socialization so to speak. I guess this period of time (from age 14 to 20) is the most essential phase for every lover of music. You get shaped by those records and they are your "real" personal classics, the records you'll go back to for the rest of your damn life. Momentarily I can't imagine myself jumping around to the sounds of "We sing the Body electric" when I'm old and grey, but I'll hang on to the illusion as long as possible...

In 2004 I had the pleasure to witness SINCE BY MAN live. It was the most empty gig I've ever been a part of, with possible 6 or 7 people watching, and I was one of two actually knowing the band. They were supposed to open for WEDNESDAY 13, when the main act had to cancel their gig at short notice. SINCE BY MAN still played and gave it their all!

But let's go back to "We sing the Body electric" and some background, with important records I've discovered prior to SINCE BY MAN's debut: AT THE DRIVE-IN's "Relationship of Command", POISON THE WELL's "The Opposite of December", FROM AUTUMN TO ASHES' "Too bad you're beautiful", THE BLOOD BROTHERS' "March on Electric Children", REFUSED's "The Shape of Punk to come" and everything by ORCHID. You could throw in CONVERGE's "Jane Doe" and BOTCH's "We are the Romans" too, the two bands SINCE BY MAN got the most comparisons with. In a weird kind of way the cross-section of all those records seems to be... "We sing the Body electric". Take the intensity from CONVERGE, the progressiveness from BOTCH, the groove from POISON THE WELL, the virtuosity from AT THE DRIVE-IN, the danceability from REFUSED, the versatility from FROM AUTUMN TO ASHES, the unpredictability from THE BLOOD BROTHERS and the apocalyptic feeling spread by ORCHID, and you pretty much got this record pinned down. Though, like it is with special records like these, it's not that easy.

When going back to "We sing the Body electric" for its 20th anniversary, listening to it in a more analytical kind of way, I was astonished bout the melodic site of "We sing the Body electric". Despite all the Mosh, all the sick-ass breakdowns and all the exuberant screaming, the melodic guitar is a center-piece of the record. Speaking about "screaming", SINCE BY MAN had a background in Screamo. In the first few years after their formation they did Splits with SEVEN DAYS OF SAMSARA and WITH ARMS STILL EMPTY. And you could consider their sides of the recordings as chaotic Screamo in the vein of PG.99 or JOSHUA FIT FOR BATTLE. In the years to come they outgrew that style, while never banning their Screamo-influence completeley, and that is one cool aspect that makes "We sing the Body electric".

With the two outputs that followed (The EP "Love Hate Relationship" and their sophomore full length "Pictures from the Hotel Apocalypse"), SINCE BY MAN took a more streamlined and clean approach. Those records are pretty good in their own right, but they were a slight letdown and could never reach the extraordinary heights of their debut album.

It's a downright perfect full length to me. It's hard to pick a favourite phase, but personally I always went with the beginning. After the distinctive intro it's an awesome three-part-stretch of energetic, groovy, brutal neckbreakers with "Push the Panic", followed by "Light Fuse Get Away" and "A Kid who tells on another Kid is a Dead Kid". They tone things down with "Death of Decadence", where they  build an intense climax. The mostly instrumental "In Threes" is the breather, right before we get to the more versatile phase of the record. Songs like "Watch the Fall" or "The Enemy" aren't as fast as the already praised opening string-of-songs, but they have their own strengths. "The Enemy" is one of the most vicious cuts I've ever heard and would be in my Top 5 picks when it comes to the soundtrack of apocalypse. With "Parole en liberta" they close the record as powerful as they started it and throw in one of the most epic melody-arcs I've ever heard!

If you don't know this record, you miss something in your life...