It’s pretty amazing if you think about a band such as AT THE DRIVE IN, who couldn’t for the life of them, find a label to release “In/Casino/Out,” and now, barely two years later, becomes one of the most hyped bands in memory. When FEARLESS Records took the big dive and signed ATDI, they were often referred to as a band “a little too weird for most punks.” Zines had consistently mentioned how great this band’s live shows were, but also how their recordings fell flat in an intensity comparison. When ATDI released their ep “Vaya” on FEARLESS, things changed tremendously. Not only did people crave to this band live, their recorded material stood on its own too! That is not to say “In/Casion/Out” wasn’t a great album, but it’s production was somewhat dull. So here we are, the Fall of 2000, and ATDI’s debut major label release is in my hands – which I promptly picked up on the morning of its release date – nearly driving my roomates insane by mentioning it so much in the prior days. Flat out, this is the best work that AT THE DRIVE IN has ever done. The songs are more complex, the production is absolutely huge, and everything gels together nicely. No band on earth (that I have heard of at least) sounds quite like AT THE DRIVE IN, which is surprising since I’m sure many have tried, but to tackle Cedric’s unique voice and all the crazy guitar work, i’m sure, is no simple task. ATDI create a blinding haze of music that treads the hardcore line at times, but never quite reaches a specific classification. The big time move up in producers, (in this case, Ross Robinson), really helped ATDI incorporate what makes their live show so great, which is the forcefullness and fluidity in the delivery of the music. “Relationship of Command” starts off with a bit of a tribal beat, that segues into “Arcarsenal,” a typical ATDI song. “One armed Scissor,” which is the “single” thus far off the album, is probably the most catchy of the songs, and possibly radio friendly, but not exactly an instant hit. My buddy Kevin at punkrocks.net mentioned this in his review of the cd as well – although this is fabulous music, I’m not quite sure what the mainstream appeal is. The band most definitely has a “look” that can be packaged (Cedric’s Afro is highly identifiable), but it’s hard to envision legions of teenie-boppers singing along in an arena setting. Regardless, for those who care about the music, and not the image, “Relationship of Command,” continues to plow ahead. Track five, “Invalid Litter Department,” particularly sparks my taste buds due to its repetitive “dancing on the corpse’s ashes” lyric. This song too vies for the most catchiest. Other highlights include the use of a piano on the later tracks, and some of the other electronic instrumentation. The packaging is very neat, but strange. It comes in one of those non-jewel case foldout things, and the lyric booklet is stapled to the left side of the foldout, which is something that I have never seen before. I’m surprised there are no pictures of the band in the booklet. As you can probably see, I’ve had a hard time describing what makes this band so great, but yet I know it’s there – maybe because the music speaks for itself rather than others speaking for it. Anyhow, the cd is retailing at an especially low price, $8.00 me thinks, so BUY THIS ALBUM AND SEE FOR YOURSELF!

Grand Royal