January 1, 2002 - Open Container

Happy New Year! A month and a half since my last release and a year since their debut "No Time To Worry", The Expendables released their second album "Open Container" on January 1, 2002. The Expendables continue to play the same style of reggae/rock/punk that they established on their debut. Let's check out the latest from The Expendables!

The album kicks off with the lead single "Drift Away" and it's got a catchy main riff with a cool drum beat by Adam Patterson, some cool guitars, both rhythm and lead, by Cam Hanson and Raul Bianchi respectively and a smooth and catchy verse by Geoff Weers. The rhythm guitar is reggae but with some nice faster parts mixed in and there's some cool lead guitar overtop, including some short solos between verses by Bianchi that sound pretty cool! It's a very smooth and solid way to kick off the album! Up next is a short song called "Piped" and Bianchi and Hanson both play some fast electric guitar on this one. This instrumental song is in a much more punk-rock vein and Bianchi plays some pretty cool lead guitar throughout, including some more pretty sweet soloing towards the end. A short, but sweet tune! Track 3 is "Fight The Feeling" and it's got a slow, reggae main riff that pretty much sums up this whole song. It's smooth and breezy, but it's also fairly simple. After a couple decent but not amazing rounds Bianchi plays another solo, but even it is pretty tame and not his best solo. The next track is only 14 seconds long and it's called "S&M". It sounds like audio from a party and we hear a girl say "he just stuck his finger in my mouth after he put it in his ass", to which he responds "my ass is clean". A gross but funny little interlude! Track 5 is "One Night Stand" and it's got an upbeat reggae main riff, almost ska, as Weers sings about picking up a girl. Patterson echoes Weers for parts of the song and together they sound solid. Bianchi delivers an epic guitar solo that spices things up then they close things out with a slow finale. Up next is "Milky Dub" and similar to their Dub songs from last album everything has this echo-y, space-y effect to it. It's also instrumental and between the bass and two guitars they play lots of trippy and cool stuff in this very space-y song. The song seems to end, then some regular sounding electric guitar starts up and starts to build up until the climax is the beginning of track 7, "Succubus". The cool guitar continues and the rest of the band joins in for a nice hard rock main riff. Bianchi is playing some pretty sweet lead guitar and Ryan DeMars is playing some nice bass in the background as well. When Weers comes in to sing the verse they switch nicely to another upbeat spa-like riff, then they nicely return to the hard rock riff for the chorus. The two riffs combine pretty interestingly and I like the contrast! Bianchi plays another cool guitar solo and this was another pretty cool tune! The next track is "Die For You" and they kick right into a super fast main riff with some cool punk-y guitars and some pretty cool bass by DeMars as well. Patterson's drums are super fast and this one is a real headbanger with Weers singing in a bit of an angrier voice as well! I love this super fast style and there's some cool music the whole way through this cool tune! Track 9 is "24/7" and we're back to a slower, reggae style for this one with Bianchi playing some groovy lead guitar overtop a chill reggae backdrop. Weers sings a smooth, high verse and Patterson adds some lower backing vocals and together things sound pretty smooth and solid. There's nothing too spicy here, just a smooth ride to the finish. Up next is "Mike E. Song" and it's got a space-y reggae backdrop, but Bianchi kicks right into a pretty sweet early guitar solo. Weers then comes in to sing a slow, echo-y verse to match the mood until someone shouts "Drop the beat!" and things pick up into a louder, and in my opinion cooler version of the main riff. They quickly settle back into the slow verse and I like Bianchi's cool solos, but the rest of the song is pretty simple. Track 11 is another single titled "Burning Up" and it's got a smooth and breezy main riff and Weers sings a fast and catchy verse overtop. The chorus riff is pretty catchy as Weers and Patterson both sing a repetitive but decent chorus and Bianchi then sloces things up with a cool melodic guitar solo. It's no surprise this was a single and I think it's a pretty catchy one! The next track is a short one called "Full Version" and DeMars starts us off with a pretty wicked bass riff, Hanson follows with some nice punk-y rhythm guitar, Patterson adds a catchy drum beat and Bianchi completes this cool main riff with some cool punk-y lead guitar. This song is another instrumental and Bianchi eventually goes full balls out with some pretty awesome soloing! For a aong just over two minutes, I thought it was pretty sweet! Track 13 is "Road Trip" and it's got another upbeat ska backdrop with Bianchi playing some nice electric guitar overtop. Weers leads a nice hard rock verse and it builds and builds, and then just resets, there is no chorus. It's an interesting formula, but things sound solid enough that you don't mind a few rounds and then Bianchi spices it up with a short guitar solo. All in all a solid song. The next track is called "It's Weers Time" and it's another "song" under a minute long that doesn't actually have any music! The whole 53 seconds is frontman Geoff Weers just puking his guts up in the studio. You can hear the rest of the band laughing hysterically while Weers pukes at least half a dozen times and we even hear him say at the end "you better be goddamn recording this shit". Yet another gross but pretty funny little interlude! Track 15 is "Last Call" and it's got a pretty slow main riff that is very chill and reggae. Weers sings about going on a bar crawl in a verse that fits the slow, breezy mood pretty well. Bianchi plays a slow echo-y guitar solo that also fits the mood nicely and things sound solid even though it's all very slow and fairly simple. The last song on the album is also by far the longest, the near thirteen minute "Fight The Feeling Dub". As the name suggests, this is a "dub" version of the third track on this album, which means it's very echo-y, space-y and pretty psychedelic. It's still based around the same catchy riff as the original, but this is like a much-extended remix of things. The vocals are all echo-y and "dubbed" and DeMars bass is the only thing that doesn't have a space-y feel to it. The song actually ends at the 3:25 mark, then after a short bit of silence we hear a clip of a live version of "Sinsemilla" off their debut album. We hear the band royally screw up the transition to the cool middle part, then they clip right to the end of the performance, and the crowd starts to chant "Cam fucked up! Cam fucked up!" Wow, just letting him have it! Then we have some more silence, several minutes this time, until the last two minutes is a bonus song. The guitars are actually pretty sweet in this short song, but Weers sings in a super weird joke voice that is funny and very cringe-y it's so bad. A typically funny way to wrap things up.

That is the end of "Open Container" and I thought it was a good album, but not an amazing one all around. It certainly had it's highlights and they've really nailed down their style, but I thought their first album "No Time To Worry" was easily better. I look forward to seeing where The Expendables will go from here!