Cameron's Record Reviews #2: The Devil and Death and Me by Run Forever

I would love to talk about how great this album is, but something ain’t quite right. It’s got plenty of the things I look for in a pop-punk record – catchy melodies, visceral lyrics, and the “bass-snare, basssnare” drum beat we’re all too familiar with. And while these things have been done a million times before, they still haven’t gotten (too) old; bands always seem to manage to keep punk rock interesting (at least if you’re an angsty teen who just wants to mosh and forget about your oppressive parents AND GOD DAMMIT MOM I DON’T WANT TO CLEAN MY DAMN ROOM).

So it’s not the simplicity of the record that’s off-putting. I’m tempted to say that there’s something insincere about it, but that’s definitely not it: The Devil and Death and Me has got sincerity in spades.

Take, for instance, the chorus to “A Sequence of Sad Events”: “A bad dream, this can’t be happening/I’ll wake up, and you’ll be there laughing/A brother, a best friend/A true love left with a loose end/A sequence of sad events that keep repeating/Over and over and over and over again.” It’s powerful, poppy as hell, and delivered perfectly. So why am I bitching?

It just seems like this sincerity is… manufactured. It’s almost like Run Forever looked at a bunch of other bands and said, “how can we sound as genuine as them?” The whole thing ends up coming off as not just derivative, but downright untruthful.

Now, I’m probably wrong about that. It’s very possible that whoever wrote these songs (probably the singer-guitarist dude, I can’t be bothered to look up a name) wrote them in a heated passion out of necessity, purging his emotions into music. But when the whole thing sounds like the Thermals trying desperately to write a Bright Eyes record (or something along those lines), I’m left feeling like The Devil and Death and Me isn’t really sincere, but just trying to be.

I guess that’s it. Run Forever makes some great tunes, but I can’t listen to it without hearing them try to be other bands. I’m still not entirely unconvinced that Conor Oberst didn’t write “When It Won’t Leave” before Run Forever added some hammer-ons and slides to the guitar part.

Now, I’ve been really harsh on this album so far. I don’t mean to be: besides this one (glaring) issue I have with it, The Devil and Death and Me is a wonderful record. It’s been in my car for the past few days and I’ve gotten a lot of kicks out of it, and I look forward to future releases. Let’s just hope that Run Forever can channel their songwriting talent into a sound they can call their own.

Favorite Tracks: “A Sequence of Sad Events,” “The Devil And Death And Me”

(As an aside: after writing this, I wanted to see what some other reviews thought of this album, and the first one that popped up started with the line, “Forever running from Conor Oberst substantial similarity lawsuits must be a tiring life…” One day I’ll be that clever.)