Album Review

One-Sentence Synopsis: one of the most anti-Bush punk bands around present their case intelligently - and rock real hard doing it

Rising from the ashes of New York City band De La Hoya, Marathon formed a couple years ago and put out Songs To Turn The Tide in the first half of 2003, closely on the heels of President Bush sending in the troops overseas. Whether or not you‘re in agreement with the occupation of Iraq is pretty much moot - you can‘t be unaffected, pro or con, by the passion crackling through this five-song EP; this is truly a band that‘s concerned with the advancement of society first and breakdowns second. I don‘t need to quote any lyrics in depth, or expound upon the informed nature of the lyrics and music. I could simply say, ‘Obtain this music any way, anyhow‘ and leave it at that. However, in the interests of true journalism, I‘ll attempt to overcome my mute admiration and elaborate.

Politics isn‘t the overt theme of the first song, ‘Photosynthesis‘, although if you traced substance-less image, empty advertising and the idolatry of airbrushed men and women on billboards worldwide back far enough, you might find big business and therefore politics, no? This song strikes home very hard to me personally for privately-held reasons, and anyone reading these words - anyone - who‘s been through the lies of mass media or knows someone victimized by them will relate: ‘...I‘m no different, ‘cause these pictures have been training me/Mission: worship counterfeit bodies/...so here‘s the breakdown: a total fakeout jumping off the page/synthesized, sanitized, glamourized‘. Sound familiar? Rally behind the closing lines: ‘All I want is to be free of judging everyone against a standard that doesn‘t even look human - now is that too much to ask?‘ No. It‘s not. Find a way.

Elsewhere, yes, Marathon overtly make known their burning resentment for the US president through the last track, aptly titled ‘Our Dictator Can Beat Up Your Dictator‘ (‘hear this: we will not fight your war‘), but more importantly to the nonpartisan among you will be a song like ‘Langston‘s Motto‘, urging the demolition of media dominance and suppression and promoting the free flow of ideas: ‘glossy plastic faces bleached with one intent: manufacture illness/my body‘s retching from this plague of images/I need to vomit back these toxins, cleanse my mind before they can digest‘. And the ultramotivational deluge just keeps coming: ‘rise and shine/thoughts slumber in hiding/opinions wanting out/release them now‘; ‘I don‘t want consensus, I just ask you to release your ideas into the air to counteract this sick monotony/I hope you‘ll be joining me‘; ‘put your theories on parade; your words will detonate against the corporate cityscape‘.

Musically, Marathon would have to be pretty bad to lessen the impact they should have on anyone hearing them, but clearly this is not the case: a dangerous mix of the best of the skate-punk genre plus a dash of Strike Anywhere plus outright evidence of hardcore roots equals one of the most important underground records released in the last five years. As previously mentioned, obtain this music any way, anyhow.

[The Band] [Their Label]