The Casket Lottery
Possiblies and Maybes
Second Nature
The Casket Lottery is simply one of the best melodic rock bands around. They tour constantly, release ridiculous amounts of 7”s and show up on compilations just about everywhere. It’s a good thing that Possiblies and Maybes has been released, as it will save new fans many dollars; the album is a combination of 7” and compilation tracks, with six new ditties included for good measure.
I guess what’s most intriguing about The Casket Lottery is the diversity of their sound. At times, they sound like Something to Write Home About-era Get Up Kids, at other times they sound like blistering spazzcore bands like Planes Mistaken For Stars, while at other times they just sound like The Casket Lottery. For the most part, what remains constant is the band’s penchant for melody and subtle math-rock timing. On the surface, they sound like a simple, aggressive melodic post-punk band, but they’re really much more than that.
Since this isn’t really a new album, I’ll focus on the strong points. The most powerful rockers on the album are “March to Babylon,” “A Priest Walks Into a Bar,” “The Natives,” “Blessed/Cursed” and “Bill and Axe.” All said tracks are angular and destructive in their delivery, and they will give the novice listener a good idea of what it is that The Casket Lottery does. I find their cover of The Cure’s “Six Different Ways” both entertaining and relatively well done. There’s also a lovely cover version of Shudder To Think’s classic “Red House.” It sounds much like the original, save for the vocalist’s inability to sound like Craig Wedren (but, only Craig Wedren is able to sound like Craig Wedren). Their version of Helmet’s “In The Meantime” is so right on and good that it made me go digging through my cassettes to find my copy of that Helmet classic!
The Casket Lottery is one of those special bands of this generation’s time. They put out a ton of quality music for those lucky enough to pay attention, and Possiblies and Maybes is just another gem in the tremendous treasure of rock these guys are building up. It’s definitely worth your cash.
Second Nature Recordings: http://www.secondnaturerecordings.com/
