World War Me - 'World War Me' Album Review

1. The Good Enough

2. Don't Hold Your Breath

3. Mr. Misery

4. Ache For Agony

5. Break A Leg Kid

6. Escape (Feat. Nicholas Matthews)

7. Fire and Flames

8. That's So Yesterday

9. War Zone

10. Live With Ourselves

11. From The Fear

12. World War Me

13. Color Me Sick

World War Me who were founded 2 years ago have released an ambitious debut album with no less than 13 tracks on it, on the Shaptone Records label. The band who hail from Chicago have been compared to My Chemical Romance and Blink 182, I think it would only be fair to say that they sound like World War Me.

I suspect that the length of the album might have been due to the difficult choice in which tracks to drop. I am glad that they did not drop any as there are no fillers on the release. I will only mention the tracks I think stand out for brevity. The album kicks off with ‘The Not Good Enough’ which hooks you right in. The track as you would expect is full of feelings of a lack of self worth, but this is delivered with tight instrumentation, Stephen Krypel’s outstanding vocals, and has the obligatory whoa whoas that will get a crowd going.

‘Mr Misery’ is another track which would get a crowd going. With plenty of ‘La Da Da Ri Da Das’. This is a more gentle track with a nice melody. It is a cute love song for misfits, where the singer points out his faults and the fact that the object of his desires is equally flawed.

‘Break A Leg Kid’ is a pumping anthem for the disenfranchised and misrepresented. It includes an aspiration to be like Kaynes, Biebers and Beyonces, which you can only assume is a dig, and what’s not like about that in this manufactured Pop age. Being a fan of The Who, I liked the keyboard fadeout, that was reminiscent of Teenage Wasteland.

‘That Is So Yesterday’ is a tale of a suffocating relationship and seems to be the opposite view of the track before it. The vocal is full of anger and contempt to begin with and then softens which adds depth to the track.

‘Warzone’ whilst a sinister dark track is also littered with ‘La Da Das’ so I am sure this will be another crowd pleaser.

The epic nature of this album hits you by track 12, and at this point you start to feel that the album is too long. Then comes the beautiful ‘Color Me Sick’. The electrics are swapped for acoustics in what is a great ending song, all about an ending relationship with a passive aggressive. I loved the hook line ‘You break my heart and tell me I’m to blame!’

As I said earlier, some will compare them with bands from back in the day, but they are distinctively World War Me. Hopefully they will hit our shores in the UK soon as they seem like a great band to see live.

This album harks back to the Emo Rock from a decade ago, with simple guitar riffs, good solos and licks, complimented with pulsating drumming and Stephen Krypels, gritty and distinctive vocals. The angst and anger of the forgotten and disenfranchised is delivered with diction that enables every word to be heard. Blend this with catchy choruses which will have even the most restrained crowd singing along, and you have a hit.