THE ANDRONICUS ADDRESS: Naming your band after the lead character in a stilted, ludicrously plotted and monstrously bloody play is enough to turn off many listeners. But what is in a name, anyway? It’s easy to judge this book by its cover — suspecting that heavily-named Titus Andronicus are a white-bred, college-hipster band bent on flexing their ‘me-so-indie’ muscles. Well, thankfully, the band isn’t that. Moniker aside, Titus Andronicus is out to raise the rafters on its newest release, “The Monitor”, an American Civil-War themed concept album, named after the first ironclad warship. This is a band hellbent to bludgeon — with guitar about as gentle as a hammer and riotous stadium-rock sing-alongs with declarations like, “The enemy is everywhere!” (“Titus Andronicus Forever”), “You will always be a loser!” (“No Future Pt. III, Escape from No Future”) and “Rally around the flag!” (A More Perfect Union). The album begins with a re-worked speech given by President Abraham Lincoln to the Young Men’s Lyceum in Springfield, Illinois, on Jan 27, 1838: “If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be it’s author and finisher.” Despite the outrageous theme, this album is boisterous fun. — Words by David D. Robbins Jr.
Titus Andronicus “A More Perfect Union”
theirbatedbreath.wordpress.com 