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So Many Dynamos latest album, The Loud Wars, was released in June through Vagrant Records. This indie rock palindrome band has been around for awhile, though. One of their tours back in 2006 included a couple of shows with John Vanderslice. They’ve also shared the stage with many others worth mentioning, including Ra Ra Riot and Harvey Danger.

The first song, “Artifacts of Sound” was originally named “Out of this Party” but was changed after realizing that would be their third song with “party” in its title. There are a few parts of the song, as well as the album, where their sound brought the Lost Prophets to mind, particularly their song “Rooftops”. But, what I immediately found interesting on my first listen of the album is that all of the songs seem to have two parts to them. There were a few occasions where the sound changed so drastically that I had to look and see if I was still listening to the same track.

The next three tracks, “Glaciers”, “The Novelty of Haunting”, and “New Bones” have an unusual twist to their melodies. All three of these songs contain melodies from past So Many Dynamos songs performed backwards! What a creative dynamic, Dynamos! Not to mention, the songs are like stories, where the listener is able to pinpoint their climaxes and resolutions. “Oh, the Devastation!” and “The Formula” use group vocals to thankfully break up the monotony a little bit.

“Friendarmy” is a little bit calmer and quieter of a song, but not the lyrics. “You think we’re kidding, we’re not. We’re only playing but we’re playing God.” “It’s Gonna Rain” brings back the loudness but in the middle of the song they throw in some small video game sounding bits. Listen to the song in its entirety, and you’ll especially see here what I mean about the two songs in one. All of a sudden towards the end, the song sounds much happier, even though the band is yelling “I don’t want to make amends; I want to make a mess.”

Though I admit I have a tough time picking them out, the album does have some similarities to other bands. But, they definitely have their own spin to their music. Sometimes the confusion of not knowing where the song is going, makes the song excitedly better.  With that said, I have been enjoying The Loud Wars all week, which is more than I thought I would.