He'd probably stifle a gag at the comparison, but Morning Glory band leader Ezra Kire has created the most ambitious punk rock album since American Idiot. And unlike Billy Joe's "rock opera" manifesto, War Psalms is a stripped-down "revolution rock" record that repeatedly shakes listeners out of their three-chorded doldrums.
Featuring 13 songs that range from blazing speed-burners like "Natas Behind Me" to piano-driven extenda-ballads like "Know Your Wrongs," on which Kire proudly displays his ivory-tinkling prowess, War Psalms always sticks in your craw, melodies worming their way into your head and staying there until you spin the album again. Kire has toiled away since leaving crust-street punks Leftöver Crack in 2013, desperately trying to create an album that does justice to the songs spinning around in his own subconscious. While 2012's Poets Were My Heroes nearly got there, it was a scattered, out-of-focus Morning Glory.
With War Psalms, Kire and his band of merry New Yorkers, now including session drummer Brian Viglione (Dresden Dolls, Violent Femmes) and new guitarist Shawn Gardiner, who co-wrote some of theses songs, are at their very best. Kire had a vision to create his dream album and War Psalms is true punk rock, done exactly right.
Read an interview with Morning Glory's Ezra Kire here.
(Fat Wreck Chords)Featuring 13 songs that range from blazing speed-burners like "Natas Behind Me" to piano-driven extenda-ballads like "Know Your Wrongs," on which Kire proudly displays his ivory-tinkling prowess, War Psalms always sticks in your craw, melodies worming their way into your head and staying there until you spin the album again. Kire has toiled away since leaving crust-street punks Leftöver Crack in 2013, desperately trying to create an album that does justice to the songs spinning around in his own subconscious. While 2012's Poets Were My Heroes nearly got there, it was a scattered, out-of-focus Morning Glory.
With War Psalms, Kire and his band of merry New Yorkers, now including session drummer Brian Viglione (Dresden Dolls, Violent Femmes) and new guitarist Shawn Gardiner, who co-wrote some of theses songs, are at their very best. Kire had a vision to create his dream album and War Psalms is true punk rock, done exactly right.
Read an interview with Morning Glory's Ezra Kire here.
