THE REBEL SPELL
“IT’S A BEAUTIFUL FUTURE”
2011
CD
REVIEWS
From Exclaim:
“It’s A Beautiful Future is the latest sarcastically titled album from Vancouver, BC punks the Rebel Spell and it packs a hell of a punch. Carried by a driving rhythm section, It’s A Beautiful Future is nearly unmatched in its enthusiasm and execution. The lyrics are passionately political, but never preachy or pretentious, but if you’re a “the medium is the message” listener, the songwriting is outstanding, making it easy to put the politics in the backseat. It’s A Beautiful Future never stagnates and that’s partly because songs like “Uncontrollable” and “It Can’t Just Be Me,” which feature violin and piano, respectively, work to keep things different and interesting. It’s A Beautiful Future is punk at its most coherent. Whether you’re protesting or skateboarding, or skateboarding to protest, the album is uncompromising and the strongest Canadian punk album since Supporting Caste, which is no small feat for a band that clearly wear Propagandhi’s influence on their sleeves. Our political future may be bleak, but with bands like the Rebel Spell, punk rock’s certainly isn’t.” – Exclaim (Tyler Munro)
From Old Punks Never Die:
“These young but well-established veterans of the Canadian punk scene have pulled off a neat trick with their latest release, managing to capture the passion at the heart of our culture and condense it into 12 tracks and 30-something minutes of life-enhancing music. Packed with more energy than a vegan’s farts, the band blast their way through the walls of oppression with their sounds of inspiration. There’s some pretty clever verbal dissection of the multitude of problems that face people around the world but this only serves to reinforce the common ground – we’re all victims of the colonialist mindset of the ruling elites, whether it’s done by invading armies or imposed by our own home-grown governments and their all-seeing eyes. The Rebel Spell do a damned fine job of shining a light into the dark shadows of the fortresses of the power-crazed, exposing them for the cockroaches they really are. Their ability to lay bare the fetid corpse of capitalism is only matched by their desire to get us all to connect the dots and stand shoulder-to-shoulder against the common enemy. The inclusion of radical folk singer Leon Rosselson’s ‘The World Turned Upside Down’ at the very end of the disc is a fitting climax to all that precedes it, the band infusing it with their own unique passion. I’d go as far as to say it’s destined to become many people’s favourite version of this well-loved tune. It’s really well-balanced when it comes to the musical foundations, perfectly in keeping with the lyrical finesse laid over the top. The bass player double-picks riffs at a speed that suggests he must have some hummingbird genes in his arms, the guitar and vocals dance with the passion of lifelong lovers, while beats are of the solid and hearty variety needed to pull and hold this potent force together. There’s nothing too fancy here, just smart and sharp use of whatever’s within arm’s and tongue’s reach to make a clear and concise point. The Rebel Spell are the essence of political punk rock, and it doesn’t hurt to be reminded once in a while what a great smell that is. For people who also like: Dropkick Murphys, The Restarts, the first Propagandhi LP OP’s opinion: 4.5/5” – Old Punks Never Die
From Rebel Youth zine:
“It’s a Beautiful Future is the third full-length album by Vancouver punks The Rebel Spell. The highly anticipated album won’t disappoint fans of the band, which has built an increasingly known and loved name for itself in the punk scene since 2003. The album takes on the threat posed to our future by the capitalist system with its environmental destruction, war, and repression. Its title track explores a futuristic dystopia characterized by oppression, hunger, and environmental apocalypse. “It Can’t Just Be Me” adds a piano to the equation while decrying a world under the watchful eye of big brother. But “Uncontrollable”, a powerful song which introduces a violin to The Rebel Spell’s sound, deals with the unbreakable will of the people to struggle and win against all odds, and “Feel the Same” is a call to action against the injustices perpetrated by the powerful. The last track on the album, “The World Turned Upside Down” talks about the Diggers, English agrarian socialists who were active during the 1600’s before being violently crushed. While it is a cover of an English folk song written in 1643, it can also be seen as a parting rallying cry to turn today’s world, with all its injustices, upside down. These are only a few of the twelve tracks featured on It’s a Beautiful Future, but there’s no filler here. Every one of them has something to say, and says it in the form of powerful, rousing, sing-a-long punk rock. The future may be bleak or beautiful, but what will define it will be the struggle of the people for a better world.” – Rebel Youth Zine