Grandson - A Modern Tragedy Vol. 3 (Track By Track Review)

 In a world so sick, with social and political problems such as Corruption, racism, school shootings and the emptiness of the fame which so many strive for Grandson in the voice we need. The American-Canadian singer is a straight forward, no bullshit lyricist in a time when its needed most and Modern Tragedy Vol. 3 is no exception to this. Balancing Rock, Hip-hop and about 300 other genres, Grandson displays a wealth of talent through his music. Read on for my Track By Track Review, or scroll to the Bottom for the Overview.

Favourite Songs - Destroy Me, Put Me Under.

Grandson Live in London

Rock Bottom

“Tell me how did we get here? And Where the fuck do we go now?”. The opening lines, which probably make a lot of sense for a lot of people, especially right now in 2020. Whether it’s the rise of Unemployment or the mistreatment of non-whites around the world, this instantly hooks you in with empathy and a crisp electric guitar laying down the melody in the background. Instantly the uniqueness of Grandson’s vocals when he sings and raps hits you, there’s something about his voice that is so special. Then it switches up into the first verse in which he raps “everybody told me ever since I was young, I should bite my tongue”. Immediately tackling an issue that a lot of younger generations are feeling in times like these, where older generations shut us down, thinking they know better. The instrumental at this point has developed into a nice acoustic guitar driven melody, with percussion laying the beat, which gets heavier into the chorus where the guitar becomes aggressive, switching back to the acoustic beat.

Later on there’s a bridge which leads to the refrain “’Cause look who’s in control”, a knock at Donald Trump, something very common on Grandson Records.

Rock Bottom is a solid alt rock/Hip-Hop bash at the state of affairs, which you’ll probably hear again about another song.

Oh No!!!

“Oh No!!!” is a song about self destructive behaviour, but also the conditions in 2019 at the time which lead to personal and societal breakdowns. Combining Dub-step style sound effects, Nu-metal-esque guitar and a modern rap beat “Oh No!!!” is a pretty good amalgamation of the music Grandson makes, its all over the place in terms of Genre, but lyrically hits the nail on the head, and goes hard. Lyrically, some of the highlights are “First they incite the Violence, turn around, then they invite the silence”, something that now, in 2020, we can relate to the Black Lives Matter movement and the corruption of the Police force in America, its one of the most powerful sentences to hear in times like these, where it seems as though world leaders don’t care and don’t listen. “The Kids don’t stand a chance”. On top of this it’s about person trials with drugs. “Now I drink smoke, whatever you’re selling, I’m a sick Joke”. With everything  being as fucked up as it is, many people don’t know where to turn, and whether they do it on purpose or not, so many turn to the usage of drugs or alcohol, with Grandson being no exception. Instrumentally, the beats pretty hard, and as someone who despised dub-step, the dubstep style in this, is actually very enjoyable, and works perfectly with the aggressive, frustrated tone of the song.

Put Me Under

“Turn off my mind, turn off the news, turn it all off I’m not ready to choose”.  Me neither buddy. “Nothing is fine, Nothing to lose, I think my breakdown is long overdue”. Speaking from the heart and minds of so many people in trying times, this song quickly became one of my favourites, slow hypnotic verses with sudden dynamic changes showing off Grandson’s vocal versatility. This song hits all the right places. The droning of the verses appeals to the tired, fed up of 2020’s bullshit part of me, and the simplicity and aggression of the chorus appeal to the frustrated and stressed side of me. And this song goes so hard in the chorus, the heavy bass, the quick beat, the hard hitting percussion, and the grit in the voice of Grandson. The dynamic shifts throughout almost mimic the mess that 2020 has been, despite coming out in 2019. “Trying to numb it , my head in the sand, I’ve gotta get out of here, quick as I can”. “Put me under”

Destroy Me

One of the most original, and one of the strangest, but most calming songs I’ve ever heard in my life and it is beautiful, the hypnotic loop of guitars and droning bass behind the unique sharpness of Grandson’s vocals is one of the best contemplative songs I think I’ve heard. Honestly, I’m not sure what this song is about, like the others I believe it jumps between many things, but in my opinion, this is a contemplative song, this is a song which allows you to create your own meaning, it gives you a space to think. “I wanna come down” could be about anything, being high, being sad, being alone. Even the titular lyrics “Destroy Me”, which is sang incredibly, could be taken to mean so many different things, and that, along with everything else is what makes this song so truly special and unique. The almost off-beat singing akin to that of PluralOne (Josh Klinghoffer) fits so well with the guitar looping behind it, despite not actually fitting with it. I have a lot of praise for this song and it’s more than worth listening to.

Die Young

Straight away, pure aggression portrayed by a heavy guitar riff which sets the tone for the entire song, followed by some hard hitting rap and hard bass. This song is a straight up “Fuck you, this is my life”, the true anti-establishment feeling we’ve needed for years, the punk rock style that needs to make a return. “I got one life so imma live it”, “My Presidents a Neo-Nazi, don’t listen to them, you are not free”. I don’t need to explain this, its simple. Its a Forward facing, progressive thinking, no bullshit, fuck you song through and through. The Bridge builds up to another dub-step style instrumental segment, which honestly I’m not a big fan of, it leans to far into dub-step territory for me to listen to and I find it a little boring, but the verses, the pre-chorus and lyrical quality through this song are all to be praised, and if you like dub-step style sounds, and politically/socially fuelled songs, then this is for you. Grandson sends the message “If I die Young, Know the Truth is forever”

“It’s the same shit, just a different year”.

 

Overview

To put it simply, Grandson is the voice this generation needs to be focusing on, the artist is the voice of the generation, portraying the stresses and frustrations of life as a young person, they address the fucked up state of affairs and aren’t afraid to send the middle finger to the establishment and Mr Trump himself, the attitude of so many Americans (And Non-Americans) for so long. Everything that Grandson is doing, from tackling politics to person demons needs to be made much bigger, so many people need to hear the impact that Grandson is making on the music industry and the world. Combining so many aspects of music, from all different genres, there really is something for everyone here, and I'm glad that I found his music, which I should’ve done in 2017 after “Running From My Shadow” with Mike Shinoda.

8/10 - Unfortunately, I don’t think that A Modern Tragedy Vol.3 is 5 of his best songs, and Die Young really takes from my experience of it, however it really does shine through so much of the music being put out these days and the originality of the music and the voice, combined with the messages being sent really does make this something special.

(I'd also like to thank the Grandson fan base for being supportive of me while writing this, you guys are pretty cool)

My favourite Grandson songs - Is This What You Wanted, Fallin' (Temptation), Things Change, Best Friends, Despicable (Acoustic).

Listen here - 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mESqLujbASuWfNaY0y8cZnkytZYNSE0PU

https://open.spotify.com/album/7AyAjjEyQwjpaqMEWMi3Iu

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