I love a great album opener. It is a manifesto for an album that not only sets the stage but also defines what comes after it.
Bleed American has an incredible opening song. The title track is hands down my favorite Jimmy song of all-time for about a million different reasons, the primary one being the ferocity that lead singer and songwriter Jim Adkins attacks the vocal production.
On this front Adkins has consistently deployed a few clever tricks throughout his career. The first is his use of vocal harmonies to drive width to each track. By my count there is anywhere from 2-4 vocal lines being leveraged, prominent examples being the pre-chorus section and chorus. He loves dropping in doubles to add a sense of urgency and then taking them out to add emphasis on a single line (like the chorus), as well as varying the approach to a vocal section to add a frenetic feeling to the lines being delivered. Look no further than the closing section to “Bleed American”— in the background panned left and right you have Adkins bellowing out random phrases and primal screams that jack the intensity to 11. It’s one of the most effective uses of a single voice in a rock song I’ve ever heard in that they are things you feel vs. hear. The intensity is palpable.
I also really appreciate how he keeps the sound of his breaths in the mix (you won’t be able to unhear it from now on)– it’s something a lot of singers cut out to keep things clean, but when done tastefully it adds a real sense of intimacy to the whole affair. That’s Jimmy for ya– just excellent production all around.
That production magic is found throughout the entirety of the album. The guitars sound incredibly heavy on the up-tempo songs (“Bleed American”, “A Praise Chorus”, “Sweetness”, “Get It Faster”, “The Authority Song”) and the stripped down songs all have an intimacy that puts you right in the room with the band (“Hear You Me”, “Your House”, “Cautionere”). Rick Burch’s bass tones are perfectly sculpted, Zach Lind’s work behind the kit is tasteful until he lets loose with a blistering drum fill, and the six-strings from Adkins and rhythm guitarist Tom Linton are simply delightful.
The fact is that there isn’t a bad song on this entire album. I don’t even know if there’s a mediocre one. In fact I would argue that it is the defining example of what an alternative rock album should sound like— intense highs, tender lows, and a feel-good sweetness for everything in the middle. Front to back it’s a modern rock masterpiece. I mean that sincerely.
On a final personal note— this album has single-handedly inspired my own guitar playing and songwriting in so many ways I probably don’t even fully understand, but one thing is clear. The reason why I own a bone white Thinline Tele with P90 pickups is because of the one and only Jim Adkins.
Standout Songs: “Bleed American”, “A Praise Chorus”, “Sweetness”, “Hear You Me”, “Get It Faster”, “The Authority Song”
