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detunehauas · 22 days ago

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Thoughts On The Living Tombstone's Rust

the album 👇👇👇

Spoilers I guess?

My TLT Experience

Considering the fact I listened to The Living Tombstone (TLT) regularily before I properly got into music and have continued doing so likely means they're my most listened to band. Like any old 12 year old kid, I was hooked on the Five Nights at Freddy's (FNAF) songs, especially "Die in a Fire" and "I Can't Fix You". In fairness, I still like those songs today... though not too sure about the obsession over

"Pikachu's Lament (Red Version) [Instrumental] (Red Version (Instrumental))"

(why is it called that?)

I was very much used to TLT's wide range in genres from dubstep, ska to alt rock. Listening to zero_one in 2023(?) wasn't particularily jarring despite technically being a departure from their usual sound and considering that TLT now has a backing band, I was expecting to be prepared for rust...

i was not prepared for rust.

"Be Alone"

The funny thing about YouTube Music (and maybe spotify?) is that you can listen to TLT's songs before their premieres start. That's exactly what I did with "Be Alone" and on first listen I was struck by how compressed everything sounded. Not sure if it's also compression but the vocals also have a similar quality to them too. It took me a good while to figure out what zero_one was saying in the chorus.

In the grand scheme I wasn't too fussed because instrumentally the song is swell. The bass line was solid, akin to the ones in the verse of "Fly Home" and the pre-chorus of "Long Time Friends". The drops are very cool.

Lyrics are another story. Rust has good flow as always but the verses and choruses feel somewhat disconnected. With how angry the verse is, I expected that rage against the... corporation to continue into the chorus but it doesn't. Instead we have a hopeless plea over a dance beat, which is an interesting idea but I would of liked that plea to be answered in some way. Personally, I would fix this by having an acoustic version of the chorus play at the end of the song with zero_one's raw vocals. As a Korn fan, I think some crying would be nice too, though I get it if they don't wanna do that.

I also caught the premiere of "Be Alone" and I think it's a nice campy music video. It's very much understandable but I'm dissapointed that the tombsonas don't have grey skin but they make up for that with a fun music video with some good comedic bits with the governor becoming "Former Employee". It would be nice to have clearer shots of the band playing (especially Tesla beloved <3). Maybe even some fret board action but... well...

Guitar wise... uhhh... oh no. Where is it? zero_one was heavily guitar based and of course they have a backing band so it was suprising to hear a lack of guitar. Surely they wouldn't just abbandon the genre of their first album?

In conclusion, this song is good enough for me to put on loop but the lyrics can be embarrassing to listen in public.

"I Walk Ahead Of You"

...is what I was saying as I skipped the premiere. Jokes aside this song is dissapointing.

Guitar? Gone. Bass guitar? Gone. Clean vocals? Gone.

Inherentley, these aren't bad things to do. After all, you are talking to a fan of "Pikachu's La- I'm not typing that again. But this song doesn't really have much going for it.

Forgive me for being bad at genres but I think the song is a (pop?) house song, which I don't think TLT has done before, hence this song mostly not sounding like a TLT song. The one bit that does sound like TLT is the chromatisism during the bridge but that's incredibly insignificant.

TLT not sounding like TLT isn't the end of the world. After all zero_one was able to pull that off but this song lacks a catchy chorus and any memorable bits. The song is also way too short with the transition to the bridge feeling incredibly awkward since it feels way to early. The lyrics also rehash the same ideas of "Be Alone", that being the unfairness of society. A strange choice to make the chant be "I Walk Ahead Of You". Perhaps a line like "but they'll drop you as they call" (a great line I know /sarcasm) before the chorus specifying this line is spoken by a greedy person would make audiences more willing to join in.

To make this song stand out more than "Be Alone", I would lean into the lyrics of betrayal in the bridge and essentially make this song about the followers of populist leaders realising the lies they've been told and grappling with that. I'd imagine a house beat wouldn't fit that song though.

Ultimately, this song doesn't sound like TLT and is likely going to be a skip on the album.

"Malibu Pier"

I think I missed the premiere for this one which is a shame because I like this tune!

"Malibu Pier" actually features guitars! Review done.

Nah kidding.

This song covers a different but related topic to the previous two. The topic being, climate change. Unlike the other singles, "Malibu Pier" takes a less on the nose approach to the lyrics, invoking some powerful imagery showing the sheer power of nature, which is especially potent since previous tracks on the album have built up the rich as unstoppable.

Though I don't like how Rust's voice doesn't continue into the chorus. By that I don't mean staying for the entire chorus. It's more for smoothing out the transition.

Also (to steal an opinion from a random comment I saw) I'm not a big fan of the "Basics in Behavior [Blue Version] (feat. Or3o)" esque synth solo at the end of the song, because it's so ill fitting, especially considering the slow and cinematic ending of the piece. The older version (put a pin in that) instead repeats the chorus but without the lead vocal line which transitions better into the ending.

This song is in a more familiar style to TLT, that being synthwave but they still went with the more overly processed vocals. Like zero_one is already processed enough. Anyhow, especially considering the beach side nature of the song as well as the almost nostalgia for a place that's been destroyed, it felt quite fitting the genre choice, though the barbershop quartet teaser should have made it for the final song. The vocals during the chorus sound great regardless!

I feel mixed about the music video. Firstly, I'm not the biggest fan of the idea of the Tombettes because amatonormativity sucks. It's fairly cliche in it's pandering of the past but it's a dang fun watch with the band and the Tombettes getting up to anctics. It's also nice having the production fall apart at the end, mirroring the song by having what seems like a perfect world being brought to an abrupt end.

In my opinion, this song is strong lyrically and serviceable musically with a catchy chorus but would've benefited from a longer run time.

Bootlegs

It was at this point when I realised that there'd be bootlegs lying around on the web, so I started searching around. For now, I won't go into to too much detail of the bootlegs but I rather enjoyed "Somebody" and "Goliath" in particular. "Somebody", being a moody synthwave track and "Goliath" potentially being similar to "Long Time Friends" on zero_one respectively, so I was hoping they would stay in those forms rather than conforming to the released tracks. There was also a demo of a song called "Kill Us All" and I wasn't particularily interested in its trap beats but I did appricieate a more direct call to action in its lyrics.

There was also...

"Orphans"

I still find it funny that I went out of my way to listen to this at a dessert restaurant and boy was it worth it because it survived the Rustification. (it even has a guitar!)

Orphans is about the people who have been abandoned by society and their desire to make their voices heard. Lyrically this one's more in line with TLT's usual lyrics. No major hiccups besides "Nothing to lose because we lost it all before" which doesn't work because it's a bit pointless and features the repetition of "lose" words.

There isn't much to point out musically expect for the differences between it and the bootlegs. The main differences is in the vocals where there's some ethereal backing vocals an octave up in the verses, a doubling(?) of the final chorus an octave down and a slide down on the note "drown". All these are great additions to the song. Though the doubling of the final chorus feels a bit confusing. Interestingly enough the chorus reminds me of the closer "Chosen" from zero_one.

The music video is well made and everything but is just kinda boring really. That shot of the car driving towards the crowd is cool though. The unclear shots of the band less so. The transition and such to the album cover and release date was cool but I CANNOT take that album cover seriously. It's so "we live in a society" coded.

Anyways, I certainly did put this song on loop a good few times thanks to it's catchy chorus and chants.

The Leadup to Rust

The community really didn't take kindly to the reveal of the tracklist. Why? Because none of the songs were over 3 minutes long. I was suprised about this complaint but in fairness TLT songs usually last 3 mins long. All singles, expect for "I Walk Ahead Of You" (and agruebly Orphans but that feels too short to be a bridge) lack bridges and post-choruses.

Bridges have been the most iconic moments of TLT songs such as "No Mercy (feat. BlackGryph0n & LittleJayneyCakes)", "Drunk" and the post-chorus of "It's Been So Long" in itself is probably the 2nd most iconic melody TLT has made. Having a few songs that lack more complex structures, is fine in the context of singles. It's just the concern that there'll only be one or two more songs with these complexities. Despite liking the cinematic endings of "Malibu Pier" and "Goliath", I do wish that these structures were used part way through the song rather than just at the end. They almost feel like cheats to get those songs over a certain length.

Another thing the community was ticked off by was the ommision of "Shut The Hell Up" and "Under The Sun", which were teased by the band previously. Oddly enough "Shut The Hell Up" sounded more similar to "Sunburn", whilst "Under The Sun", the literal sequel to "Sunburn", sounded more like a zero_one B-side and a bit like Weezer but I'm not sure how exactly. The cut of a follow up of such an iconic track certainly struck a nerve with the fandom but the fact that they replaced them with a 1:36 song ("This Will Be Our Year") really rubbed salt in that wound... or nerve I guess?

It was an interesting choice them cutting those two more rocky songs huh... I'm sure that's not a sign of anything to come.

i love you too

A few days before the release of Rust, I was looking around TLT's YouTube posts and found that Yoav had released a solo EP called i love you too via his side project SugarVision. The EP seems to be mostly hyperpop with a tearout song in between, which I was quite suprised by since TLT's last dubstep song was probably in 2017. Lyrically, it's more in the spirit of zero_one with it's themes of loneliness, betrayal and depression. Added to the mix we've got some neurodivergence and childhood in the context of adulthood. It's a very different listen for me since I don't know much about hyperpop and have only just started listening to tearout but it was a pleasant suprise. My faves of the EP are "Don't lie to Me", "Believe me" and "Overload Overwhelmed", though the last one is a bit repetitive. I was a bit dissapointed that Yoav's probably gonna leave the tearout for his solo work but am glad that his dubstep phase wasn't just a phase.

"Kill Us All"

"TEAR OUT??!!! DUBSTEP?!?! I DUNNO BUT IT SOUNDS GOOD" is probably what was going on in my head when the tune started. They've got the St. Anger snare and everything! Although, I'd imagine the rest of the fandom isn't gonna be too happy.

Lyrics are better than most of the album with, as said before, calls to direct action against the state but they removed some lines from a bootleg, which made it feel more direct in its critisism of the inaction of the democrats in the US. Though we did get the line "They're preparing for a massacre. Last chance while the Panzer's still got gas in her", which I very much enjoy.

Some of the other lyrics are a bit on the nose like "the grand experiment is done, it got cancer" and the refrain "they wanna kill us all". I do like the delivery though which I initially thought was zero_one but was actually Rust. Rust just sounds so angry on this track and I feel the processing on the vocals actually helps in this case. It explains why all the other songs' vocals are overly processed.

The visualiser is kinda mid though.

In conclusion, this song is a far depature from TLT's usual sound but itches my dubstep loving ears. Lyrically it can be cheesey but backs it up with some clever wordplay and calls to action.

"Somebody"

This was a great track to choose to tease the release date, especially considering it's the closest stylistically to "Orphans" and that it's one of the better tracks.

Initially I liked the song mostly for its ending, but upon examining the lyrics I've grown to enjoy it more. On previous listens, I just took the song to be about somebody (ba doo chhh) who lived the life of a model citizen but in doing so they feel they lack a purpose. Upon further listens, the focus on masculinity, partiotism, violence and the imagery of "boys lining up" invokes the idea of serving in the military, which feels more interesting than my previous reading though both are valid of course.

Rust really can scream as shown in the outro but it's quite dissapointing that the Tom Morello type guitar work by Armstrong didn't make it into the leadup of the drop. Thankfully the vocal harmonies of the 2nd verse stayed intact. The music video of Rust running is also fun but it does take away from my military reading.

In summary, this tune sounds rather generic but backs it up with more interesting lyrical ideas and a memorable outro.

"Rust"

"Rust" from Rust is NOT sung by Rust.

Well okay. Rust does sing in the last pre-chorus but it does strike to me as odd. I do like hearing zero_one have a larger part though but I'm not a fan of the effects used here. It could be due to being dumb, but I'm dissapointed that the track doesn't really connect to the character of Rust that much and is rather an extended metaphor for justice and how exposing lies and corruption brings about justice. I apriceiate how they don't state justice to be inevitable because it isn't.

Musically, it's... Imagine Dragons? I dunno what genre it is exactly but I like the guitar arpeggios as well as those bass chugs, especially in verse two. The drop is cool and screams TLT, but some singing from Rust would've made sense for the climax of the piece.

The visualiser sucks.

This song invokes some interesting imagery but the vocal effects are hard to listen to and the Imagine Dragons stadium rock style instrumental puts me off. It's also very dissapointing how it only touches on the story of Rust.

"Boulder"

5/8. YES. I mean uh.. this song is about wanting to be free from a life of endless, repetitious, passionless employment that you cannot leave no matter how hard you try. It's fine lyrically. Not much interesting imagery though. There is the boulder but I'm pretty sure they just did that cause it was a meme back in the days haha.

Musically we've got another tear out (I think?) track which has sick drops but has otherwise uninteresting verses, especially considering verse two doesn't really add too much. Kinda wished the delivery in the chorus was more clearer. The 5/8 for this song actually makes sense cause it can get exhausting to count. It's a cool sound though, especially with the triplet figures in the chorus.

The visualiser is quite entertaining to watch but could've used different animations for Rust being sent back down.

"Boulder" has a catchy instrumental hook and stands out with its use of 5/8 but the vocals in the chorus fail to make the song memorable.

"Goliath"

Look how they massacared my boy... ok it's not that bad really. "Goliath" is about oppression under a regime. It honestly doesn't do too much interesting with the idea. The "I'm not a statistic" line could've been expanded upon more showing how media misrepresents oppression around the world but instead we just get alot of words just saying "this regime is cruel and powerful and I want to defeat them". For the longest song on the album, it is dissapointing that it doesn't contain that much actual lyrical substance.

The album makes mention to religion in "Somebody" and "Boulder" and having "God doesn't love me" as the main line in this song makes it dissapointing that they didn't go further with the topic. For context, I myself am religious but it's undeniable the harms that have been perpetuated by organised religion. The use of religion in "Goliath" and "Boulder" come off more than edgy than anything.

Despite being a bit cheap in places, I quite liked watching the music video. Didn't quite understand everything but it was a very striking art style with its mix of styles and use of monochrome. I especially liked the shot in the final chorus where they put down one of the deers with the calculated symmetry of the shot being thrown off by the corpse falling over. It would've been nice if the song itself followed the story told by the video.

Originally, I heard the live performance of "Goliath" and was expecting it to be in TLT's more usual style like "Be Alone" but was dissapointed to hear that it was sounding more so like "I Walk Ahead Of You". However, the song still sounds pretty good despite that. The main bass line of the song is very traditional TLT as well as those ska chords. I'm also a fan of how Rust delivers of those lower lines throughout the song. It's very graveley and lowkey attractive? (don't judge me, don't judge me, don't judge me) Also a fan of how Rust delivers "I want" in "I want the regime to fall".

Despite my problems with the lyrics, I do still rather like the song's more traditional TLT sound.

"This Will Be Our Year"

Dare I say this is a better closer than "Chosen"? Listening to this tune feels similar to Weezer's "Butterfly", which also covers a sophomore album that's significantly different in sound and themes than the debut. The two songs are also more slow paced, acoustic, bitter sweet tunes. The song also reminds me of TLT's Kingdom Hearts song "Memory", which I'm a big fan of... though I dunno much about Kingdom Hearts.

Musically, the chord progression of the song is nice, Rust's singing is on point and the whistling, which leads into the explosion, sounds very raw. Though I do struggle to decide whether ending the album with a couple being bombed is clever or unnecessarily cruel. Oddly enough, this song covers the topic of "Goliath" better than it could since it covers specific individuals in a conflict areas rather than more general groups experiencing oppression.

This song is a great tune to close an otherwise mixed album with a subdued ballad with a heart wrenching ending.

Summary

Sonically, Rust is a bold step from the band into a more modern electronic sound, which edges on pop at times. In doing so it abbandons the more rock band based tunes that they've established with their debut album and touring. Many of the songs have also lost the harmonic and ska elements that make TLT stand out making the album sound generic. The lyrics of the album are more unfocused and impersonal than zero_one but somewhat successful at not coming off as too edgy (the album cover doesn't help). This results in most songs feeling very one note expect for "Malibu Pier", "Somebody" and "This Will Be Our Year".

I strongly suspect this album won't be looked on as fondly as zero_one but since TLT has attracted an audience of outcasts, I don't expect the album to completely flop, cause it'll likely resonate with them. Personally, my favourites of the album are "Kill Us All", "Goliath" and "This Will Be Our Year" because of their catchy instrumentals. "I Walk Ahead Of You" is my only skip.

In conclusion, this doesn't sound like a TLT album but it is serviceable enough.

Hasn't stopped me from listening it 10+ times though...

Despite that I can't wait for Armstrong!!!

#/op #tlt rust #the living tombstone #thoughts #review #music #album review

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