Album Review: ‘Dive’ – I Am The Avalanche

Brooklyn Punk Rockers, I Am the Avalanche, is scheduled to drop their latest album, Dive, on Friday, November 20th. This is the band’s first release since 2014’s Wolverines.  The band, which formed in 2004, is comprised of Vocalist Vinnie Caruana, Guitarist Mike Ireland, Bassist Kellen Robson, and Drummer Brett Romnes.

This album hits you right in the face with punk attitude on the very first song, “Better Days”.  It starts with a brief fast tempo palm-muted guitar intro by Ireland with Caruana joining in with raucous but controlled vocals.  The rest of the band kicks in and Ireland opens up on the guitar.  The song is about realizing too late how good you had it and raising a “drink to better days.” After two and a half minutes of intensity, the song is over and it’s on to the next song.

Caruana says most of DIVE‘s dire lyrics were penned prior to the lockdown. “This has been coming,” he insists. “Pre-pandemic, things were still shitty. Our country has been turned upside-down by the current administration. So the songs that sound like they were written yesterday… I don’t think that’s going to change.”

You’re No Good to Me Dead” maintains the pace set by “Better Days”.   Caruana sings about going through a bad year; being drained and weary and picking yourself up when things are down. This is good advice for everyone living through the current pandemic.  Caruana recalls “This one came to fruition in the 11th hour. We had a short break before our last week of tracking, and I came back to the studio with this one. We jammed on it and we were all thrilled to finish so strong.”

The title track, “Dive”, starts with a repetitive guitar rhythm that makes you want to stomp your feet or pound the table and scream “ohh, oh, oh, oh” along with the song. Dive Caruana shares: “This is a classic Avalanche drinkin’ song. Tonight our worries and troubles don’t exist. Tonight you’re drinking and singing with the fucking Avalanche.”

“The Morning” is a touching conclusion to the album.  Caruana is direct and quick with his message on the first nine album tracks.  However, with this song, he lets go of the punk attitude displayed on the previous songs.  He slows the pace in order to better explore the nature of relationships between a couple.  Things aren’t always going to perfect, and mistakes may be made.  However, what is important is working through the issues, not giving up on the other person and being there for each other. This song causes you to reflect on your own relationships and how crucial they are.

Rock music was meant to be brief and to the point. Stir the listener up into a frenzy and then move on.  Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Buddy Holly, and others didn’t record 5-minute songs.  It was two and half minutes max.  Dive is what rock was meant to be.  It fires up the listener and then moves on with the average song length being 2 minutes and 54 seconds.  I rarely make it the end of most songs these days before I move on to the next; even songs that I really like.  However, Dive is an album for which I can listen to each song from start to finish.

Dive Track Listing

  1. Better Days
  2. You’re No Good to Me Dead
  3. Dive
  4. Fake Weed
  5. Love Song 69
  6. Are You Listening?
  7. Tokyo
  8. Concrete
  9. Earthquake Weather
  10. The Morning

Post by Scott Raymer (Website | Instagram | Facebook)

What do you think about this album? Comment below.

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