You'd be forgiven for thinking that this is a metal album looking at the cover art (or the title), but there aren't any electric instruments here.
That said, We The Heathens do play a form of folk-crust-punk that, in no small part due to their use of cello and violin, certainly has a feel not too dissimilar to metal's more epic aspects, a parallel that extends to the alternating use of clean and gutteral vocals.
At its heart though this is still a folk-punk record, with the catchy sing-a-long choruses one would expect, but framed within the context of both the aforementioned more grandiose elements, and the grimy sound of acoustic crust-punk.
Socially- and politically-aware lyrics complete the offering, and yes, this is a damn fine album, with stellar songwriting, brilliant execution and, if not a totally unique sound, at least a pretty original take on it.
The band went on to re-record some of these songs with electric guitars for their 2019 record "Approaching Thunder" and, whilst interesting, I felt it missed the mark; the remarkable sound this band can create with acoustic instruments is a huge part of their appeal.
𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗼𝗿 𝗗𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗲 / 𝗡𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺:
P.S. Check out Robin McDumphy's solo violin stuff, it's pretty great.
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