Write This Down - Lost Weekend

Write This Down's self-titled debut was a showcase of a band with tons of potential but no real direction. The album featured some new tracks and some re-recorded versions of older songs and while it was a good record, it was a bit all over the place. I wrote that it would be interesting to see what direction musically the band would choose for LP two.

Lost Weekend is very similar to the band's debut in a lot of ways but it's extremely different. It's almost like a completely different band in many regards. Musically, Lost Weekend is similar to the band's debut but more defined and more raw. There's a harder edge to Lost Weekend but Write This Down doesn't completely leave their ballad side in the closet.

The Older I Get, The Better I Was kicks off the album on a strong note. Johnny Collier comes in full scream and while there was screaming on the band's debut, it's different. There's clearly a heavier edge. It hits in the same way Emery's The Cheval Glass kicked off We Do What We Want. The lyrics are biting and pointed, voicing a tiredness with a hypocritical honesty.  See Ya Never feels a lot like songs from the band's previous material. I'll Make You Famous, Red 7, and The Florida Rage all point to one influence; Project 86. Write This Down has spent time touring with Project over the last couple of years so it's no wonder that the influence is there. The riffs on those tracks are killer and strong and Write This Down has managed to capture some killer hooks on Lost Weekend (something that was missing on their debut).

The record is on 100% from the word go, so when the band's cover of No Doubt's Don't Speak hits, it's just enough of a break from the full on assault that it's a welcome shift. But Cheap Affairs doesn't have the same effect. Even though Don't Speak was a break in sound, Cheap Affairs, the album's first ballad, is such a dramatic shift down in tone and energy that it brings the album to a screeching halt. The song on it's own is fine but in context to the album, I'm not sure how it works. But... I'm also not sure where else to put it.

Lost Weekend is a great record and with minor exception is a great listen from start to finish. The band has expanded themselves and grown in many ways and it shows on Lost Weekend.