World Travels Fast: Album Review

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I know that I’ve been a one man hype machine for Decibully’s newest album, World Travels Fast, and I would apologize if I felt it necessary, but, as I have previously stated umpteen times on this site, it is my solemn duty to the city of my conception, gestation, birth, raising, hazing, mirth, to champion all things Milwaukee, especially when they are damn good, like Decibully.

Even though World Travels Fast has been in the works for at least a year and a half now, it seems like it was written and recorded especially for this moment in time.  The coming winter and subsequent gray months are reflected in the ethereal, yet gritty, pop of Decibully’s latest release.   The city of Milwaukee is as much a contributor on this album as the musicians themselves.  From the opening discord on “Hour of Noise,” to the bittersweet death march on “Little White Girl,” I can see the dirty snow of March and the throngs of people curling inside themselves, trying to hide from the smarting winds of January.

Musically World Travels Fast has more reverberation than any of their previous albums, and at times the album sounds as if it were recorded in a church; even the vocals have the same air as a somber Catholic litany.  World Travels Fast is ripe with musical drama, and at times it becomes a little overwhelming, but quick deviations such as a one and a half minute space-vamp “Get in the Car,” and the title track, “World Travels Fast” help to keep the album entertaining.

“Let’s Not Fight,” is another stand out track on WTF (hey, what do ya know WTF), guided by an unrepentant snare stomp and effects-driven guitar line, actually effects-driven everything, with a Zeppelin esque breakdown, and laced with Neumeyer’s terse vocal work.  On “Weakest Kind of Heart,”  Seidel secures his place as Milwaukee’s Morrissey, with run-on lyrics and melodic trickery.

On WTF Decibully shows a new dimension of themselves, which lives up to the expectations of this prolonged hiatus.  The album can get repetitive at times, and at times I wish they would have turned their pedals off, or used a more direct musical approach, but overall it’s a good album, and a must for anyone interested in the Milwaukee identity.

Mp3: Decibully – Get in the Car

Mp3: Decibully – Let’s Not Fight

Buy it HERE, and pay whatever you want.