Album Review

The Gaslight Anthem – Handwritten

• 16th Jul 2012

Handwritten is the fourth album from New Jersey rockers The Gaslight Anthem – and it could just be their best yet.

Combining Jersey Shore rock with punk attitude and energy gives the band an explosive sound. Their lyrics are well crafted and highly emotional. And the production from Brendan O’Brien, responsible for all of Bruce Springsteen’s recent output, gives this release a lovely clean and sharp sound throughout.

The Gaslight Anthem’s previous album, 2010’s American Slang, marked a slightly different musical direction for the band, with several slower and more soulful tracks. It was good, but out and out rock is what these guys do best. Handwritten is a return to their musically harder roots, as restraint is lost and they offer up all of the pulsating verses and anthemic choruses that they do so well.

Opening with the excellent lead single 45, the pace is frenetic from the start. The song is about trying to grow, and it sets the tone for the whole album. “I can’t move on and I can’t stay the same,” cries lead singer Brian Fallon in that powerful, husky voice of his. Fallon’s vocal performance throughout the album is excellent, giving passion and strength to his fine lyrics.

Next up is title track Handwritten, which starts with a chant from Fallon over solid guitar riffs before the lyrics kick in. There’s loss and regret here in spades, the emotional delivery turned up to maximum. Guitarist Alex Rosamilia adds some excellent guitar parts on the track, bringing subtlety to a muscular song.

Here Comes My Man features a great bass line from Alex Levine and a sing-along chorus that lightens the tone slightly. Mulholland Drive is a fine track, another tale of loss and memories, this time set around the image of driving through the mist. And there’s a great guitar solo near the end too.

Keepsake is the most personal song on the album, written by Fallon about his father who left when he was a child. A catchy guitar riff runs right through this marvellous track as Fallon expresses the deep emotional conflict of learning to live without someone yet wondering just how it might have worked out. “I just want to love someone who has the same blood,” he concludes.

The centre piece of the album is the quite superb five minute long Too Much Blood. This is a big, solid rock song with a lovely guitar riff. It may have a slightly slower tempo and a more grunge-like feel to it than most of the album, but it rocks hard. Fallon strains his voice to its limits and puts everything into the track.

Howl is a fast and aggressive slice of rock. The accelerated drum beats drive this short song forward apace. It’s only two minutes long and ends with a big question: “do you believe there’s still some magic left somewhere inside our souls?” Biloxi Parish has already been played live several times. The massive climax to the song is almost orchestral and the track comes closer to a southern sound than the band ever have before.

Desire is about lust, pure and simple. “I would give anything for the touch of your skin” sings Fallon. It is followed by Mae, which has a bitter-sweet romantic tone. The short lines and slower delivery here are reminiscent of some of the band’s earlier songs and it works well.

The closing National Anthem is the one acoustic track on the album. Again it’s nostalgic in feel, this time for a long lost relationship– a first love perhaps? “I never will forget you my American love. And I’ll always remember you, wild as they come.” This is a lovely end to the album, its gentle tone in contrast to much of what has gone before.

Handwritten is a very good album from a band who get better all the time. The songs are honest and direct, yet also poetic and haunting. This is the closest they have yet come to capturing that massive stage sound on a record, and many of these songs are going to prove spectacular when played live.

Fallon’s vocals are strong and emotive, while his guitar and that of Alex Rosamilia create a wall of sound, mixing power chords with more elaborate work. Bassist Alex Levine is solid throughout while Benny Horowitz adds power aplenty with his tremendous drumming. It all adds up to some great rock music – and one of the best albums of the year so far.

If you can, catch The Gaslight Anthem live over the summer festival season, or on their short UK tour in October. You won’t regret it.