Hail The Sun: Wake Album Review/Blog Update

Alright, so I needed to push something out. I've been working on my next iconoclastic blog post for a couple of weeks now. I'm busy and the claim I'm making takes some intense research. Anyways, Hail The Sun is one of my favorite bands around right now. In 2014, they released their first full-length LP and third release, Wake. Their next full-length LP, "Culture Scars," will be released on June 17th of 2016. Their newest single from the album, "Burn Nice and Slow," has a music video available on YouTube.

Wake is not a concept album from what I can tell, but it has the general theme of death throughout most of the album, hence the name. Each song deals with a different death, and a different perspective for that death. The opening track, "Rolling Out The Red Carpet," is very short but powerful. It talks about a killer murdering someone and perhaps the killer is a narcissist who sees himself as important. It reminds me of Ted Bundy a little bit. The lyrics aren't really that powerful, but the music is great and it makes me wish that the song was longer. It sets up the next song very well, "Human Target Practice."

"Human Target Practice" talks about police brutality, perhaps specifically the Eric Garner case, and calls out the sadistic aspects of the police force. It's a very strong song that definitely affects the listener whether they like it or not. I'm not sure what news story "Black Serotonin" comes from, but it speaks of the hypocrisy of the media that advocates compassion yet perpetuates false information negatively affecting society. The song itself has a great structure, and really exemplifies the progressive aspect of Hail The Sun's progressive post-hardcore sound.

"Mourning Sickness" isn't that unique in my opinion, and is made weaker by the two amazing songs both before and after this song. That said, it's not bad, and it is about a dead person seeing their family grieve over the person. The music is very cookie-cutter compared to the rest of the album. The next song, however, combines my favorite aspects of Hail The Sun's music.

"Falling On Deaf Ears" talks about religion from a Hitchens-esque perspective. The one criticism I've heard from others about this song is that it doesn't really fit in the album, but I disagree. The narrator is an atheist or agnostic addressing the absence of God, the hypocrisy of religion, religion as a way for the greedy to make money, and the idea of eternal damnation. That last part and the follow-up song are why "Falling On Deaf Ears" belongs on Wake.

"Cosmic Narcissism" is perhaps one of the most cynical songs I've ever heard, but that doesn't really mean that it isn't wrong. It is kind've a lyrical sister to "Falling On Deaf Ears," and is from the perspective of a man whose significant other treated him poorly. It is a stark look at the mind of a person who has realized that their life and struggles are meaningless. It is one of the songs on the album that I really relate to, but I wish I didn't.

"Relax/Divide" is a really morbid love song that is disguised as a cheery love song. Honestly, I could hear it being in a wedding slideshow, with nobody batting an eye at the lyrics, much like how people really like that Third Eye Blind song. However, it is about a very anxious individual fearing that their girlfriend/boyfriend could die when they're not around. This significant other then breaks up with them over the phone. There is perhaps darker connotations, but this is just my analysis.

"Disappearing Syndrome" has a dreamy opening that contrasts amazingly well with the rest of the song. It is about the mysterious death of Elisa Lam in the Hotel Cecil, and perhaps takes some lyrical inspiration from The Shining. It's one of my favorite songs on the album, and, admittedly, it's mostly because of the subject matter. Donovan Melero's vocals on this song are at their best in my opinion.

"Missed Injections" is the most under-appreciated track on the album. Every review either skips over this song or calls it the most disappointing track on the album. I disagree. The song is a powerful and introspective look at addiction, specifically addiction with someone who supports your addiction. The lyrics are simple but effective and the breakdowns are emotional, especially at the end with the lyrics "still we pretend that our lives do not consist of chasing shit that helps us cope with how we see ourselves. Everything we say is a lie we actually believe." It commands an emotional response and it gives me goosebumps every time I hear it, which is what I like in my music.

"Hanging Revelations" is a social commentary that uses the Salem witch trials as a metaphor for religious and social persecution like Arthur Miller's "The Crucible." It's pretty much required to write a song about the Salem witch trials if you're a socially conscious band. "Jane Doe" is about someone who was murdered being forgotten by society and eventually by her family. The story is told with somber music in the background, making it kind of sound like a wake for someone that has been forgotten.

The album closes with "Anti-Eulogy." It's about a person who has had someone close to them die, but the person is glad that they're dead. For each song I imagine someone giving a eulogy, and this one is the most angry yet relatable. You don't typically speak ill of the dead, but there are a few people I would feel this way about. It's a good song that honestly deserves a few more listens from me, because every time I hear it I find something new.

Overall, this album is one of the best post-hardcore records, it even far outdoes the recent releases from Dance Gavin Dance, widely considered to be the best band of the genre. This album cements Hail The Sun's status as one of the best bands of our time, and will likely be remembered in a few years as a crowning achievement in the genre of post-hardcore punk. Keep an eye out of my blog for the next installment of Jacob Mitchell: Iconoclast.

Rate: 18/24

Third-Wave Feminism Is Stupid

Before I start, let me say that I respect women, and I prefer the company of women to the company of men. Most women are sensitive, intuitive, understanding, and focused, while most men are ignorant, uncompromising, and prideful. There's nothing wrong with masculine traits and there's nothing wrong with feminine traits, it's just biology. Men have testosterone and women have estrogen. We're chemically different.

Back in the early days of humanity, women were treated as sex objects, and men were warriors, hunters, gatherers, and diplomats. Women weren't allowed to be priests when religion was created, and women weren't societal leaders when the first civilizations were created. Women were relegated to positions that men did not desire, such as care of children and homes. Then, as society became more civilized, women took on some of the roles of men.

First-wave feminism was vital for women to gain equal rights in many areas, especially in politics. In World War II, women took over industry while men went out to war. My great-grandmother was a WAC during most of the war while her brothers fought in Europe and Africa, and one even survived D-Day. Then, second-wave feminism did even more in the areas that first-wave feminism and covered other important areas like reproduction, sexuality, equality in the workplace and in society. However, in the early-80's, feminists experienced in-fighting and split in two; one side believed that second-wave feminism somehow contributed to a "patriarchy," and the other side, well, was rational.

Third-wave feminism addresses many of the same issues that first-wave feminism and second-wave feminism addressed, but makes them sound much more prevalent in society than they actually are. Rape is a touchy topic in our modern world today. Like many of you know, rape is a sexual action forced upon someone that doesn't want to participate in the sexual action. Rape has always a subject of feminism, and, sickeningly, rape has only been seen as wrong by mainstream society in the last 200 years. A major reason that rape was prevalent in the past is religion, since the old testament basically says that men can't be punished for raping a woman.

Yes, rape is bad. Sexual assault is bad. I know rape victims, and the experience is traumatizing and lasts forever if left unchecked. I only know one male victim of rape, and perhaps I know more than one, but men are less inclined to tell people about being raped than women. My friend was once an extremely happy and positive person, but now he's nervous all of the time and he is often scared of new people, and he had help afterwards. To focus on the plights of one gender when the problem of rape affects all genders is sick.

Feminism is about equal rights, not special treatment. However, many feminists today want special treatment and give rape a new definition that is problematic, to use feminist vocabulary. Third-wave feminists have combined with the overly-politically correct authoritarians of blog sites such as tumblr to create this new definition of rape: an action that makes a woman uncomfortable. In fact, it doesn't even have to be an action, it can be a statement or even a look. Here's the problem with that definition: men are inherently horny.

I know, it's crazy to think that men want to have sex. Men are biologically wired to be more aroused than women in everyday life. While a woman can have a conversation with a man without feeling sexual arousal, a man can release testosterone after a simple glance. However, when a man "falls in love," his testosterone level goes down, while a woman's testosterone levels increase (yes, women have small levels of testosterone, and men have small levels of estrogen) when "in love." A woman can't understand the libido of a man, but they can experience it when they find a life partner.

So when a guy looks at you on the bus, he's probably not having a rape fantasy, he's just attracted to you. It has nothing to do with what you wear, it is just the fact that he's a man. So you can see why an advertiser might exploit man's weakness to look at a pair of breasts. You're selling some nauseating body spray? Slap some tits on it.

It seems like the focus of prominent internet feminists like Anita Sarkeesian are the perceived sexism of advertisements and media. Anita, in particular, has begun a crusade against the "misogyny" of video games. She argues that female video game characters are overly-sexualized, marginalized, and aren't given personality. But if I were a game developer, I would include sexual imagery in an adult game if it meant that more games were sold. In most video game franchises, the male characters are of an attractive build, same with the female characters. Simply put: sex sells.

Yes, there are some more outlandish things that third-wave feminists say, but they are so ridiculous that they don't even need to be debunked. The problem with this particular movement, however, is that the third-wave feminists are primarily composed of bratty, selfish, entitled, white teenage girls, selfish, entitled, single women in their 30's, and guys who want to get laid. The previous two waves of feminism were composed of strong, independent women who, in the face of unparalleled adversity, completely changed society.

So while I can't say I'm not a feminist, in the sense that I am for gender equality, I can definitively say that third-wave feminism is stupid. I'd also like to give a short message to the "feminists" of the western world before I end this blog: you're fighting the wrong enemy. The chiefest opposition to gender equality is not corporations, media, and the like, it is religion. Religion in the middle-east has led to many women being killed or tortured for expressing themselves in any way, shape, or form. Misogyny exists, but you're too blind to see it.

Martial Arts is a Scam

If you're an action movie fan like I am, you've probably seen your fair share of cheesy martial arts films. The hero is a much more proficient fighter than his adversaries, who are always incompetent in some fashion. They might be huge, hulking men that aren't smart or fast enough to defeat the hero. They might be over-confident in their abilities, underestimating the hero, who unexpectedly dispatches them. It's been done thousands of times.

I've seen about a dozen fights in my life and they all have one thing in common: the winner is stronger than the loser. He may not be bigger, necessarily, but he is always much more athletic. The fight is usually a series of uncoordinated punches, it has much more in common with a boxing bout than a martial arts contest. The winner either lands more punches than the loser, hits them in the right spot that knocks them out, or just makes the other guy retreat. I don't care how many years you've learned how to do an armbar, if Mike Tyson gets a good punch on you, you're out.

The story of a hero who's trained under a master of an ancient fighting style defeating a villain despite the odds being stacked against them is just that, a story. Just because your "sensei," "master," "sifu," "guru," or whatever seems like a smart individual, in reality he's just a scammer. See, assuring people that they can beat up anyone in a fight is in reality a very simple confidence scam. If they're a really good scammer, they can even convince you that you can manipulate your "life energy," "chi," or "qi." This takes a quick moment of critical thought to debunk: "if I'm using my life force to create an invisible punch, am I killing myself?"

Yet, thousands of people sign up to learn how to beat people up. These "classes" can cost anywhere from $10 a month to hundreds or even thousands. You want to win every fight you're in? Sign up at the gym and work out every day. Thinking that you can pay a fee and instantly become Bruce Lee is both ridiculous and hilarious. I can understand what's appealing about martial arts, but it's just false promises like any other scam.