I wonder how much of the personality or vibe or an artist can be attributed to the vocal style. Certainly with Hear Us Scream, it's the thing that was at my forefront throughout my listen. My first instinct was that the singer sounded somewhat like Gordon Gano of the Violent Femmes, but as time went on vocalist Hilary Binder just came to sound like Hilary Binder. I bring up the vocals first because I think how much you enjoy this album will depend largely on how much you enjoy the singing. For me, I think Hilary's voice and delivery are incredible, but I also suspect that they're an acquired taste.
I made this decision when listening to the third track, Fear Weapon, an easy favourite for me. They wail and whine over the top of this ever wandering bassline that constantly feels like it's going to settle on a riff before moving in unexpected directions, all while the drums skitter and bang away. It fucking rules, if you listen to one song it should be this one.
The music is cool, too. There's a few artists that I'd point to. It's got the angular punky compositional style of Gang of Four, with the energy Future of the Left, and the fuzzy bass-driven instrumentation of Death From Above 1979. But it's altogether a bit funkier than any of those bands. Being Broke almost sounds like Alt-J with it's delicate high-necked bass, jazzy drums, and falsetto vocal hook.
Whether the songs are upbeat or downbeat there's an energy to all these recordings that persist through the whole thing, with the drums and bass locked in throughout. I really like the Mission Impossible riffing on In My Life, or the Halloweeny math rocker Smash the State.
You may have surmised that this is a punk album and thus has something to say. Oftentimes the messages are very clear from the song titles, like the aforementioned Smash the State, The Ballad of Antifa, and Consent Is Sexy. It's times like this I wish I could read the lyrics though because while I can often make out what's being said, it does feel like sometimes the message gets lost in the vocal delivery.
There's not one message that I can make out that I disagree with. I think that can sometimes cause some dissonance because if there's one song I didn't think much of, it was Consent Is Sexy. Obviously I agree with the message wholeheartedly, but musically I think the song is kind of an annoying listen. Still, it's short and earnest and I can't really be upset with it.
A slightly bigger issue is that I think the album is front-loaded. It's maybe one or two songs too long and the best ones tended to be in the first half, and so I think it does run out of steam a little by the end.
Or at least it would if not for The Ballad of Antifa, which brings the energy back tenfold for the closer. It's a much more traditional punk song than the rest of the album and is simply a really fun and catchy listen with strong Tony Hawk's Pro Skater vibes, I loved it.
Overall this is a really solid album that's totally worth your time. Not perfect, but not far off either, by a band with talent and musical chemistry oozing out of their ears.