The Ongoing Concept - Saloon (Album Review)

Do you remember when the Solid State Records logo on the back of the album meant a certain quality could be expected. Tooth And Nail/Solid State had gotten away from signing the bands that were creating music that would propel them to the forefront of their respective genres and instead had signed a few artists that in my opinion were less than great over the last few years. After a buy-out of Tooth And Nail/Solid State's back catalog by Capitol, the indie label partners are now free to be truly independent again.

The Ongoing Concept are among the first few releases from the revamped Tooth And Nail/Solid State brand. While the label(s) may possibly never again have the same type of impact they once had, one thing is for certain, The Ongoing Concept is a nice step in the right direction. There's no denying roots music has had a huge upswing over the last few years with acts like Mumford & Sons becoming one of the most talked about bands around. The Ongoing Concept bring some roots elements into their music including the banjo, hand clapping, old timey sounds, and southern swagger is all over Saloon. That's part of the majesty of Saloon it feels fresh while maintaining a distinct amount of hardcore influences. It's easily one of the best hardcore albums I've heard from a newer band in a while. Saloon is exactly the kind of album Solid State Records needs to put out to remind people there's a reason they trusted the label with their hardcore acts.

"Class Of 2010" is a personal favorite of mine. I really like the way the lyrics are done in the song with the mixture of talking and screaming. The talking part in the song really reminded me of something MeWithoutYou would do. "Little Situation" to me is the best example of what this band is trying to do on this album. It's a southern tinged song with an acoustic guitar riff and sung vocals throughout the verses while the choruses feature electric guitars and singing with just a little screaming vocals mixed in. It may very well have the best mass appeal and single potential as far as appealing to the masses. The last track on the album "Goodbye, So Long My Love" is one of the most interesting and neatly done tracks on the album. It’s just a really interesting song and might be one of the more original sounding tracks on the album. It's a song that feels upbeat, brooding, slow and heavy. The piano is at the forefront and features male and female sung vocals as well as very well done screaming vocals. It's a great song to close the album with and a super high point of the album.

Now the downfall to the album is that even though this is a great album and it feels slightly original in a few ways there's no denying southern themes have been blended with metal/hardcore in recent years similar to the way this band does it. Heck even Underoath's (one of the most successful Solid State/Tooth And Nail bands) original singer Dallas Taylor fronts a southern metal band named Maylene & The Sons Of Disaster that combines a lot of similar elements in the same way The Ongoing Concept does. That it is not 100% original does not influence my enjoyment of the album, but I've heard this band branded as unique. Although they have written a really impressive hardcore/metal record, it may not be quite as unique as it's being billed as.

Overall this album is a big thumbs up for Solid State. It easily gives me a little hope and faith that Solid State might start releasing some really good heavy releases again. This album is really cool and a really good listen. It's filled with a ton of awesome heavy songs done in a really neat way. It's a really catchy heavy album and that's such a hard thing to accomplish. The blended singing/screaming vocals are done really well. I've heard a lot of what's being done on this album before, but this band has found a way to create an album that merges these elements and makes it feel really fresh. This is a really interesting album and it is definitely worth checking out. It's the kind of album that just gets better and better with each listen.