Release Date: August 3, 2013
Label: Count Your Lucky Stars
Two Knights' is the Texas based emo/math rock duo's second full album. A Lot of Bad Things Have Happened, but We're Still Here begins quite differently from their previous album, Quilt Chamberlain. Its more of the same, with a touch of lyrical improvements and more powerful songs partially from the vocalists efforts and improved songwriting.
Where Quilt started with a fast riff, A Lot of Bad Things drops in softly and slowly with the track "Devonte's Inferno". However halfway through the song, mathy drums and guitar pick back up where Quilt left off. This bipolar song structure is a big part of what makes the album such an interesting listen. Songs jump around in tempo and mood through the album. Lyrics sometimes enter the song halfway through over complex riff and gradually building drums. The album leaps at you then retreats. In "I'm Here For The Pizzah Partie" saunters along with the refrain "I just wanted this to happen" but then cuts off with a riff and pounding, off-kilter drums as the singer lays into the lyrics. "I write stupid words to try and make you understand, but you won't listen", he shouts over a chaotic mix of cymbal and snare hits. These accelerations throughout the album create feebleness in some lyrics and power in others. It really helps the listener understand the emotion that goes into each line of each song.
As with other Two Knights releases, the guitar and drum work is tight and precise when it needs to be, but also can open up from tight riffs and fills into big powerful strums and rhythms that bounce across the cymbals and snares. Even when there are no lyrics, the fantastic instrumentation really keeps the listener engaged in the mood of the album and displays a lot of skill on the part of the artists. A Lot of Bad Things Have Happened, but We're Still Here is a varied, bouncy listen that will hold your attention with raw lyrics and technical playing.
