Send Transmission To The One Armed Scissor (Relationship Of Command - At The Drive-In)

Member Name: Andy.mack

Product:	Relationship Of Command - At The Drive-In
Date:	24/09/05 (192 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A great album to make your last . Good guitar riffs and an excellent beat, vocals sound great

Disadvantages: They've split up, vocals will be a little bit too much for some people

There are very few bands that have such an impact on me that I head straight out after hearing a song for the first time to hunt down their album. That is however the effect that At The Drive In had on me. I was off work ill and came across "One Armed Scissor" on an NME compilation disk and within 20 minutes I was on the way to Bracknell to get the album. Normally I'd have at least of waited and listened to it a few times before considering buying it next time I was out. No instead I went straight to MVC and picked up a copy of Relationship Of Command some 4 or 5 years ago and have never looked back.

To date this is still the only At The Drive In album I own and I've never set out to compare it to their older material. For me this is an album that will always have a place in my live and a few of the tracks would certainly feature on a soundtrack of my life. The band had quite a hardcore following before they split to form two separate bands and this was in fact their last album of new material. The album has quite a high standing in the musical community, but it's certainly fair to say that it is an acquired taste.

The band formed in 1994 and slowly but surely built a name for themselves. Hailing from El Paso in Texas they certainly had a unique musical style. This album sees a couple of different styles being mixed together with outstanding results. The main nucleus of the album is clearly built from a rock backing with a few different styles mixed in around it. Perhaps the most prominent style is a very firm punk sound blended in nicely, which gives them quite a different sound. On top of that there is a lot of experimentation and mixing of various samples and sounds that really adds something different to the album and caps off that unique sound they obviously thrived for.

As far as the line up goes they had quite a traditional set up. With Cedric on lead vocals, two guitar players (Omar and Jim), one bass player (Paul) and a drummer (Tony). It was more the arrangement of each track that brought about the overall result. Each track has a slightly different sound to the last and that's perhaps what makes the album such a pleasure to listen too. The guitars on just about every track sum up the raw energy the band had, with quite a fast pace being set throughout. The bass and drums as well add to that and the overall feel of each track is like something no other band could manage.

It's clear that there is a mixture of influences on the album, but they are just that slight influences. It's almost like they have taken a couple of different bands styles and merged them together and added their own little twist of flair. At times you can hear glimpses of Rage Against The Machine, while at others it could have been Nirvana. They haven't just blended the styles though they've really made it their own and it certainly sounds original.

In places Cedric's vocals can sound like Zach from RATM but it's only momentarily as even his voice has a completely different sound to it. He's not the perfect singer and at times he can sound a little flat, when the song slows down a little too much. There are times on the album where even musically the tracks slow down too much and it losses that little edge it had. They are quick to recover though and as quickly as the track goes flat it starts to pick itself up again.

Lyrically it's quite a clever album. The lyrics in the context of each song don't really sound like much, just a string of words. It's not till you actually sit and read them that it strikes you just how deep the album actually is. Each track has its own identity and that certainly comes from the way each has been written. Of course the style and screaming vocals are bound to put a lot of people off but tracks like "Pattern Against User" with its pounding beat and guitar arrangement, make this a very easy album to get into and enjoy.

Of course it won't appeal to anyone who doesn't like Punk or Rock. It certainly draws its roots firmly from each of the musical styles and forges them somewhere in the middle. With the band now split up and Sparta and The Mars Volta forming from the ashes it's unlikely that At The Drive In will ever reform, but what a way to sign off. They aren't a band that can be pigeonholed with anyone else as apart from the two bands formed out of this one, I've not really heard anything that comes close. This will always be an album I'll listen to and I can't see me ever tiring of it.

Amazon.co.uk: £6.97
Amazon market place: £6

Summary: A decent album that grew on me quit quickly, shame they split up