Album Review: Shame Give You “Songs of Praise”

Can you embody shame? Do you want to? It is no secret that music is a reflector and receptor of human emotions, and Shame is a band that has, literally, decided to approach the worst one: humiliation. It is amazing to see how even the littlest thing, like waving at a person who we thought was waving at us, could cause embarrassment. Hence, Shame’s newest album, Songs of Praise, rocks forward into a solid theme: why do we give our power away to things that do not matter.

Humiliation is all about giving your power to feel good away to something/ someone who will make you feel bad. Welp, their name may be Shame, but this group is about instrumentally bashing that feeling away. Tracks like, “Concrete”, “Lampoon”, and “Friction” sound exactly like those words. They are harsh, forceful, and brazen in chords that scrape with drums to make you feel like you are both releasing and living in your worst moments, but that is the only way to feel relieved. You got to go through the bad to reach the good, and Eddie Green certainly knows how to claw a vocal note for all its raw emotions. He uses his voice like hands ripping through lyrics trying to find their sweeter messages; it is a balance vocal of tension and lyrical poignancy. The duality allows Shame to, inadvertently, redefine what we call Songs of Praise.

When I think Songs of Praise, I am ready to hit The Church. I am thinking big hats, fine outfits, and judgmental faces. Thus, the irony of a band named Shame singing “Songs of Praise” does not surpass me, especially because, in thought, songs of Praise are all about going from “lost” to “found”. “Tasteless”, “The Lick”, and “Gold Hole” may not sound like the titles to Bible hymns, but they do ask you like, most testaments, to own who you are and stop thinking others do not see it.
Shame – Concrete (Official Video)

Whether they are bouncing a drum roll like a ping pong, frying a guitar like a pan, or having Green do punch vocal notes like a punk king, Shame are all about not feeling exactly that. Sure, we all have a bunch of reasons to crawl under a rock in embarrassment, but Songs of Praise asks you to take that rock and throw it at every glass house you can find. For More Information on Shame and To Buy Songs of Praise on January 12 Click Here.
Shame – One Rizla (Official Video)