I was surprised this week when Saosin out of the blue kicked out another version of “I Can Tell There Was An Accident Here Earlier”. Holy crap did this take me back. The song was on repeat for a few hours, and I had an awkward time reliving my edgy teenage years. It was long overdue. To me, without a doubt, their crown jewel is their self titled album Saosin, and I want to take another dive into it to see what exactly makes it so special.

I might as well start with their guitar writing. These guys are like a chameleon on this album, they can capture pretty much every emotion on the spectrum, and use a boatload of different styles and techniques to achieve it. It is simple, effective, and it is amazing to experience. Look at the transition from “You’re Not Alone” into “Bury Your Head”. You’re Not Alone was every Emo kids “you can make it through this” anthem, and the guitar does an amazing job at keeping this fleeting feeling grounded from the beginning to the end. It slowly ramps up the tones that create some amazingly big sounds and inspired inspirational hard rock guitar. Then, BOOM, the intro to “Bury Your Head” grabs you by the back of the neck and slams you back into reality with an aggressive riff that moves you emotionally away from the last song, and sets you up for the next one. This is particularly powerful because it goes right back to a meandering melody that acts more as ambient sound instead of driving core melodies.

The album is able to maintain a level of energy throughout every song that keeps you engaged, and a large part of that is the energetic drums performed by Alex Rodriguez. Voices (one of my favorite songs on the album) is definitely not one of their “harder” songs but keeps the intensity up with an amazing drum piece during the verse. The beat is played so calmly and so effortlessly that it makes it sound relaxing and enjoyable. Every song is another lesson on this idea.

The lyrics are thought-provoking (although sometimes a little immature) and expertly performed. It covers pretty traditional themes as far as emo bands go, so there really isn’t that much to write about on that front Although there are not many bands that have been able to hit those high notes consistently without sounding a little ridiculous and whiny. One of the things that stuck out to me was that they didn’t rely on screaming to let you know “hey this is the hard part, you should start kickin’ it”. Instead, they gave us moments like 2:55 on It’s Far Better To Learn” where it slams you back into your seat regardelss if you have your seat belt on or not.

The experience as a whole is a no-frills, no-gimmicks experience that has stood up against the newer generations. This album is the cool older brother to modern Emo and Post-hardcore projects. Instead of focusing on taking huge risks to stand out, they composed a signature sound and the entire experience is them hitting the gas over and over until you hit the end of the album, and need a deep breath and a drink of water before heading back in.