Episode 64 - Career Suicide by A Wilhelm Scream
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We return to our regularly scheduled programming this week as we tackle a punk album which is difficult to categorise. A Wilhelm Scream originally started off as a skate punk band in the mid-90s, first under the name Koen before releasing two albums as Smackin’ Isaiah. As members rotated in and out the band’s sound started to change, and come the early 00s the band eschewed it’s old name and started to move away from skate punk entirely.
If we were to take a stab at it, you could probably call them tech punk. Indeed, many have deemed them this over the years, and as such they’ve went onto influence a number of other bands who combine the technical skill and speed of metal with a hearty dose of skate punk. Imagine Bad Religion playing Iron Maiden riffs and you might come a little close to the band’s sound.
This week we discuss the band’s third album (or fifth if you take into account the two records released under another name) ‘Career Suicide’. This 2007 release marked something of a departure for the band, where they decided to dump any post-hardcore and emo elements from previous outings and simply focus on riffs, speed and more riffs.
We cover the band’s history and ponder whether the difficulty in categorising them may have had ramifications in terms of career “success” (whatever that means).
Is this their best album? That is, as ever, up to you to decide.