Born from squat punk roots in New York City, Ezra Kire of Choking Victim and INDK originally put together Morning Glory around his guitar duties in Leftover Crack. After years of inactivity and a turbulent existence with Leftover Crack, Ezra decided to leave the band behind and put together ‘Poets Were My Heroes’ with Morning Glory for Fat Wreck in 2012.
The band has been relatively prolific since, and with ‘War Psalms’ Morning Glory hark back to their ‘The Whole World Is Watching’ era more than they did in ‘Poets Were My Heroes’. It’s not the same stripped back punk rock record as that in reality though, as the band have opted to make the arrangements as complex as the genre will let them get away with here, and the production has allowed them to stretch their legs a bit in the choruses.
The characteristically unsubtle imagery and rugged charm in Kire’s songwriting is something that those familiar with his other bands will have come to expect, and the themes of war, nationalism, American identity and modern life are something that will come as no surprise either. The scene that Morning Glory was born from was always looked on with a bit of confusion, but Morning Glory here have produced something that isn’t so much crack rock steady as it is punk rock with some stadium sized choruses in there for good measure.
The best moments on the release also happen to be the shorter, faster and heavier ones (see ‘Natas Behind Me’ and ‘This Kool-Aid Is Delicious’), perhaps because the longer efforts overuse the “loudspeaker effect” on the vocals or get a bit lost around the third minute.
Minor gripes aside, this is Morning Glory’s most ambitious work to date and there’s plenty to love about the way the band throws itself between styles. Fans of Ezra’s previous bands will appreciate the progression from his previous work and punk rock fans in general will probably enjoy the departure from the sillier end of the scene that he came up through. Unfashionable, maybe, but an enjoyably jarring album regardless.
TOM AYLOTT