Countless Thousand
The Triumph of Justice
(Nerdrocker Records!)
The harmonized high-flying guitar riffing of the title track (a nod to Brian May, methinks?!) begins, Countless Thousands’ new album The Triumph of Justice, as they move into the chunky acoustic romp of “Game Change.” It’s obvious even from these first two that this Glendale, CA group has something to say, and they do say it, and say it expertly, across these fourteen tunes.
I love the heavy metal grumble of “Space Nazis Must Die! (Feat Professor Elemental),” and shoving a piece of “Battle Hymn of the Republic” into their “Solidarity Forever,’ as well as the roil and stutter of the scary “MA$K OFF.” Matching this wonderful noise with the kinetic folk of the tragic confessional “the Rat,” the dobro-roll silliness of “Murder Assassins from the Future,” (featuring a freaking brilliant lyric in an album with lots of great lyric), and the band’s mandolin-led cover of Stephen Foster’s “Hard Times (Come Again No More),” is almost too good an eclectic mix for what listeners of 2021 deserve.
In fact, I’ll go out on a limb here and say what Countless Thousand manages to do here in production, their songwriting and playing is a world above anything a Green Day or bands of that ilk have ever managed (yeah, I said it!). “Parts Unknown” is a wonderful love song, again relying on this group’s ability to deliver on acoustic instruments as well as they do electric, layer harmonies, and I just love how they change things up, jumping and giving on “Fat Cat.”
This genre of music, whatever it is (certainly not 70’s prog, the genre from which I judge all other music) is not my cup-of- tea. But I’m damn impressed over the Triumph of Justice, and can’t recommend it enough.
