End Transmissions
After Pachelbel’s Snapcase, Snapcase’s End Transmission has been getting a lot of rotation again. And my brain has been whirring.
I think I recall at the time (2002ish) rumours to the affect of it being their last album. And it sure felt that way. Bit of a radical departure from their prior works, much more “arty” (it was a concept album, whatever that means). Though it wasn’t technically their last album, Bright Flashes came out a couple of years later, that was remixes, covers, and other unreleased stuff from the End Transmission recording times. Definitely not a “proper” album. I think. So far this has been written without doing any research, just initial feels. Or dredged up feels I suppose. Ironically, this album is old enough to drink.
BUT, the “main” point was that it has me thinking about “last” albums by bands, that took them in a (little/yellow/different) new direction. Off the top of my head, the other main contenders are:
Shape of Punk to Come was phenomenal, but 100% “End Game”. The band broke up while touring it and were relieved to do so. Some of em went on to become The International Noise Conspiracy. Much like End Transmission, it was a pretty decent departure from the more traditional “Hardcore” they’d been playing so far.
Relationship of Command, similarly, was also “End Game”. I’m not even certain the band survived until the album’s release. No, they must have, for there was this momentous performance on not-quite-primetime national TV:
(Sadly missing from that clip is the camera panning over to Robbie Williams, stood by a piano, with probably the most “WTF” or “How am I meant to follow that up?” look ever caught on a human face)
Didn’t last long after that though. ATDI went two ways, and became The Mars Volta and Sparta.
Their earlier stuff had been a bit more trad. Lyrics that made actual sense, verse chorus verse chorus repeat. VAYA was a bit weird, but there’s a clear line from Relationship of Command to De-Loused in the Comatorium.
Games changed after these releases.
Other random thoughts to wrangle in:
- Did ATDI also get on TV in Texas by pretending to be a polka band?
- The physical copies of End Transmission felt premium. There was something fancy going on with inlays, definitely one of those “get home from the shop and sit with it for a while” releases
- Refused were also straightedge, but probably mentioned it even less than Snapcase did.
- Earth Crisis’ “last” album might fit into this category too. Slither maybe? Got away from the hardcore a bit, some “clean” vocals that reminded me of Ozzy. I’m not clear enough on their actual history. Apart from the Greatest Hits album, there might’ve been more.
- One Armed Scissor also has that line about “Last transmission”. A few of their songs seem to be along this theme actually
- ATDI are definitely NOT straightedge. Also their weird. TMV ended up burying a ouija board in the desert because it was haunting them and pretty much all their albums are some sort of “concept”. Found a journal in the woods? Write an album based on what’s in it. What’s the worst that could happen?