The Sea of Problems!

I've been meaning to post a review of this damn thing for ages now, and I may have finally found time. Sorry for the delay.

First off, this disc is an absolute BLAST. You guys have a mini cult following among my little circle of friends. I honestly can't tell you how many times I've heard "Adam, put on that 'Bitches Leave' song!" Another crowd favorite is the "Package Marine Fight Song". Overall, it's a damn solid, really fun album that takes an open mind and a love for music to truly appreciate, but it also gets better with every single listen. I've also found that the people who really enjoy the album the most are people who are or have been in a band. It's easily the best party record I have ever owned, if only for the fact that it covers damn near every range of sound possible. Soundwise, it's a little rough around the edges, caught somewhere in between meticulous studio work and garage band, but to me, it fits wonderfully. One of the most interesting and downright cool records I have owned in a long time. In a time when my faith in music is constantly waning, it's great to hear something as fun as Package to come along. Guys, thank you.

"Parole" - possibly my favorite. GREAT choice to open the album with. Cool bass riff, vocals sound fucking awesome. Guitar work just screams badass. Can't say anything negative about this one. The guitar player in my band was particularly impressed with the solo.

"You Icy Ways" - Groovy little tune. The closing solo should be listened to on headphones by EVERYONE.

"Walk In Blood" - Fuck yeah! LOVE the guitar work. You guys have a damn fine sense of melody. Lyrics are King Diamond. The bassline is only done justice on headphones. And the scream right before "Will you be my bride" sounds like you were channeling The Demon. One of the best tracks on the album.

"Hard On" - I just recently bought a new car (An Acura, and it rules), and I made DAMN sure that this was the first song I listened to in it. Windows went down, sunglasses went on, and I was off. Catchy as HELL.

"Porn" - Ahh, another crowd favorite. My girlfriend first heard this and said "You gain at least three cool points just for knowing these guys." Yet another track with guitar work better than 9/10 of ANYTHING on the radio. Wouldn't hurt to tack up the bass a bit.

"Sold" - Love the "I know what.." section. Lyrically, one of my faves. Shows off what a good singing voice Nick really has.

"Nails" - Balls out, ass-kickin' coolness. I love this damn song. One day, I will beat a stranger while listening to it.

That's all I've got time for at the moment, but I'll discuss the other tracks as soon as I get the chance (Hopefully later tonight or tommorrow afternoon). Again guys, thank you.

Okay fellas, as promised, I shall finish my review. Sorry about the delay, but work, school, the gym, the girlfriend, and the band (Sadly, in that order) are pummeling me without mercy. On a side note, yesterday I ordered my copy of "When Chains Attack!" and it cannot get here soon enough. A review will follow it as well. Anyway...

"To See Tomorrow" - At first, not one of my favorites. Not a bad song by any means, just not quite up to par with some of the others. After giving it a few more listens, I really, really like it. I believe the word my brother used to describe it was "snazzy". I think it fits. Killer intro.

"Sarsaparilla" - pretty much the same as "Tomorrow". Didn't care for it upon my first listen, but after a few times, it grew on my in a weird, Mr. Bungle/Tenacious D/??? kind of way. Quirky, strange, and a bit tongue-in-cheek. Always puts a smile on my face.

"Action Jackson" - I ADORE this song. My friends can never remember the names of the songs, and this one is often referred to as "White Shaft". It's also frightening how hard I laughed the first time I head "Hot shit!". Perfect chorus. The bluesy, slowed down outro is splendid.

"Steam" - Sweet heavenly Calibos, what a song! Again, it's good to see that The Demon still respects his indie bands and makes an appearance ever now and again. Love the pace of this song. Grinding, slow, but at the same time very melodic. Excellently placed in the overall flow of the album. For a first time listener, it sort of slaps you in the face and says "Hey motherfucker, we do rock songs too!" Vocally FLAWLESS. At the moment, this is my second favorite, right between "Parole" and "Spring Break '85”.

"Cauterized" - A bizarre song indeed. I really dig the drums on this one, and the solo is one of downright coolest ones on the disc. The way Nick described "Manpower" as being a solid, straightforward track, but not necessarily THE ONE is pretty well encompassing of this tune.

"Spring Break 85" - Micah is a genius. It's weird, after I played this song for the guitar player in my band; one of the first things he said (other than 'god damn that IS fast!') was "Is he black?" It caught me rather off guard. "As a matter of fact, yeah." My friend just looks at me very seriously and says in an almost whisper: "Awesome". We never spoke of this again, but I do know that he is of the opinion that there are not enough really good, non-white guitar players. So Micah, Troy says "thanks for not being white". Anyway, this song is what it would sound like if Van-Halen ever made a commercial for Miller Lite. It's got that nice touch of the "CHUD sense of humor" to it, but at the same time, shows off musical chops that FEW bands today can hold a candle to. I'm really stuck on this song.

"Bitches Leave" - YES. This is most one hell of a crowd pleaser. It always seems to catch the ear of the neo-hippy, Widespread Panic/Phish clowns, but at the same time, everyone else loves it for the comical lyrics. For all intents and purposes, it is my anthem.

"Charon" - The fact that it's devoted to the ferryman of the dead automatically makes it just fine in my book. The first solo and the accompanying whispers of "Charon" is one of my favorite parts. The pickup at the end is quite lovely as well.

"What I Know" - Again, very, very well placed in terms of the flow of the album. I love, love, love the acoustics on this. I appreciate this song more and more ever time I listen to it. Very well done guys.

"The Package Marine Fight Song" - Epic in every sense of the word. Micah will be pleased to know that at a party last month, this song was picked to listen to over Outkast's "The Whole World". Truly, an accomplishment. The intro and outro freak my pants across the room, but I still love them. The one thing I hate about this song is the fact that I have to explain to people that the reference is NOT to the pop-rock band Incubus (I hope), but is in fact in reference to either a lesser known sexual demon, or a strange, Esperanto speaking, William Shatner flick from the sixties. Aside from that minor annoyance, the song kicks every possible form of ass within range of Earth's yellow sun. I love it for it's punked-out hard-edged feel, but the lyrics are the gem of it. You could put those lyrics to a song by Gloria Estefan and it would still be awesome. PERFECT closer. It's the song that after it's over, you just sort of look around, check your pockets, take a deep breath and ask, "What the hell just happened?"

Like I said before guys, I really, really like this album. It's the one that I constantly find myself going back to. Fun, cool, catchy, and REAL. Again guys, thank you.