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I’m all for pushing boundaries. As a matter of fact, I think it’s one of art’s jobs to do so. For example, I may not enjoy all of the controversial Eminem’s music, but I will avidly declare his right to pen a song about wanting to kill his wife
(so long as the thought stays on paper). The best of art forces us to have more of an open mind and view things differently, and perhaps even learn from them.
However, in order to push boundaries and push people’s buttons some maturity is essential. Spit for Athena lack all traces of maturity. All that they possess is an insincere Hot Topic-esque attitude and their attempts at any kind of social lessons fall flat because of it.
Lyrically, Spit for Athena reaches the skill level of a twelve year old that stumbled on a dictionary of dirty words and thinks he’ll be the coolest kid on the playground because of it. Sex, drugs, religion, homosexuality, torture,
deceit- lyricist Levi Bailey touches on every taboo he can muster. Yet every time he gets close to making a legitimate point, instead of actually making it, Bailey instantly retreats to his inner middle-schooler. On "Flogging the Dolphin," which appears to be some kind of
anti-weaponry/anti-authority statement, Bailey screams "Throw a brick at the policeman/ when he’s least expecting it/ and if you hit him in the head…/ you’ll go to Heaven!/ I want to write a book about jacking off!" Similarly in "Fuzzy Pink and Purple Spots," what seems to be a cute ballad for a girlfriend again takes a drastic turn towards immaturity when Bailey sings "Glitter around your lovely eyes/ You’re nothing like the other guys."
Musically, Spit for Athena are much the same as they are lyrically. They believe they can make a difference by simply being loud and dripping with
paper-thin attitude. They can’t. Their sonic bombardment comes across as unorganized and
underdeveloped- the sad thing is that unorganized assaults usually fail. Playing with attitude is hardly groundbreaking and in all honesty fails to hint at anything remotely adventurous or new.
There are incredibly brief moments of potential on this record, most notably on the third track "Taillight Out," still they are too few and too far between for Spit from Athena to come across as more than just that: spit. This band simply needs to grow up and stop trying so hard to shock people long enough to grow some real balls and find something to say worth listening to.
Reviewed by Natalie B. David
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