IN REVIEW: The Motorleague - "Holding Patterns"

With 2013's Acknowledge, Acknowledge, The Motorleague made good on years of hard work and heavy touring with an energetic, punk-leaning record with a few surprises; splashes of acoustic east coast flavour (Oh, How the Mighty Have Fallen), groove-heavy rock (We Are All Going Directly to Hell), and even a little indie rock (Burned in Effigy) found their way into the core sound of the record. However, for me it was the incendiary post-grunge screamer Failsafes that hit hardest; given a few spins, that song stuck out from the pack thanks to its intensity and its catchiness in equal measure. More than any other song on that record, Failsafes married melody and force in a way that made it a clear favourite of mine, for not just the album but indeed the year itself.

Having earned a higher national profile thanks to Canadian major distribution and more hard miles on the road, The Motorleague went into Holding Patterns sessions with a higher profile producer in Eric Ratz (the man at the boards for albums by Cancer Bats, Billy Talent and Monster Truck, among others). It was a wise move, as the result is a thicker, cleaner sounding effort.

The Motorleague don't have any wild detours in store for fans, but what they do have is an overall more varied and accessible record than Acknowledge, Acknowledge; the grooves are upfront on opening track and lead single The Boards, which recalls Monster Truck while bearing the harmonic stamp that stands as The Motorleague's most improved characteristic on this record. The choruses are sharper and bigger on Holding Patterns than they've ever been for this band, as evidenced strongly on the pop-punk fist pumper For the Last Time Forever, the smoldering near-ballad Burn Everything, the grungy arena rocker Take Like You're Giving and the muscly power popper Don't Look Away.

Perhaps the album's most effective overall track, though, is Wounded Animal; taking a cue from the recent success of bands like Royal Blood while piling on harmonies and combining them into a formidable rocker that occupies the middle ground between the album's most intense and melodic moments. It screams out for future single consideration, if not for the fact that the four other non-singles I mentioned in the paragraph above would all sound great on rock radio too.

That's not to say that Holding Patterns is a cold, calculated bid at airplay, it's just that this is where The Motorleague's talents have taken them. Nothing on the record feels like a concession in any way, rather refinements in the craft that come with years of playing together and the guidance of a proven veteran producer. It's also got enough variance in tone and tempo throughout to ensure a consistently engaging album experience. A few tracks don't quite provide the same endorphin rush as the rest, but any negative effects they have on the whole are minimal. Holding Patterns is a tight, concise and thoroughly enjoyable record from a band that's rightfully extended their reach far beyond the Maritimes.

October 16, 2015 • Sonic/Warner
Highlights The Boards • Wounded Animal • For the Last Time Forever

Year in Rock 2025

Alright, I've got some explaining to do. By now anyone who's visited this blog is well aware of how infrequently I've used this space in recent years; aside from the occasional fertile year of content, I really haven't posted all that often over the last five years or so. There are many reasons for this, which have already been outlined in previous apology posts; but, essentially, it boils down to my own laziness and the cold reality that blogs are, like Refused (again), fucking dead. So, I wouldn't hold my breath for a triumphant return to reviews, or even semi-regular posts, but: a) I feel like Year in Rock posts have always belonged here and, even though I've experimented with different methods of presentation recently and been satisfied, the "blink and you missed it" unveiling via Facebook stories this year was perhaps ultimately a disservice to the records I lauded. After all, cramming the list into short videos isn't too far off from ju...

Year in Rock 2011 Nominee: Sam Roberts Band

SAM ROBERTS BAND I Feel You From: Collider Released: May 10 Having already endured the breakout success ( Brother Down was Canada's it rock song of 2002), the tentative dabbling in the U.S. market, as is the rite of passage for all moderately successful Canuck artists (2003's debut We Were Born in a Flame was the best time to try; one of the best albums of the year, it made a small dent in the American mindset upon its release there a year later), the difficult, druggy third album (the aptly named 2005 disc Chemical City ), and the subdued creative step backward (2008's Love at the End of the World , aside from hit single Them Kids , was really kinda bland), it seems according to script that Sam Roberts would start settling in on his fourth album (and first with the band credited as equal contributors), Collider (you know, I think it was a bad idea to give me brackets). Well, as far as settling in goes, Roberts does and doesn't on Collider . W...

IN REVIEW: Rancid - "Trouble Maker"

As far as punk rock goes, it's hard to name a hotter hot streak than the trio of records Rancid cranked out between 1995 and 2000; the star making ...And Out Come the Wolves , the far-reaching Life Won't Wait and their balls-to-the-wall second self-titled album solidly positioned Rancid as leaders of the second generation of punk. It also preceded a period of slow progression, as Rancid would take eleven years to release their next three records. By the time ...Honor Is All We Know came in 2014, many fans (myself included) had to wonder whether or not this was the end of the road. Such concerns are handily dealt with on the closing track of the standard edition of their ninth record, the positively punishing This Is Not the End . Well, okay then, that's sorted. Now, what of this new record? What do we make of the use of their original logo on the cover, a logo that hasn't graced a Rancid record in 25 years? Is this a throwback to the band's heyday, a new begin...

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