"The Strokes - Room On Fire" Consistency is King

 

    What can I say about The Strokes that hasn't already been said? I suppose I can give my Strokes story, because anyone who was ever remotely interested in 2000's rock has almost certainly been influenced by the band in some shape, way or form. I remember when I first saw the music video for Reptillia pop off in my Youtube recommended feed. Of course, at the time I was a young bourgeoning teen exploring my similarly bourgeoning music taste. I distinctly remember listening to Panic! At the Disco and being enamored with this idea of "emo" music as defined by Tumblr. Of course, this led me to what was in retrospect a hilarious video that claimed Mr. Brightside and Somebody Told Me by the Killers was also emo. Obviously, after that it was only a matter of time before I found out by the Strokes, because like many other bands of that era they were inspired by The Strokes. Now, I'm older and still a fan of the band, though this album was always my third favourite one after The New Abnormal and Is This It. Regardless, my friend Omaid recommended it and I think it'll be interesting to see how it fares to this day. So without further ado, my track-by-track review.

Room On Fire - The Strokes

What Ever Happened? - 95/100 This is probably one of my favourite Strokes songs of all time, and if not it's at the very least top 5 so it's good to see that my love for this song has not waned in the slightest. From the verses to the guitar solo to the chorus this song is pretty much exactly what I'd want from the band.

Reptillia - 90/100 Be honest did you really expect me to hate one of the most popular indie rock songs of the 2000's? It's ridiculously popular and frankly it deserves all the fame it gets it's a really good song in my opinion.

Automatic Stop - 80/100 I did not realize that supposedly this band was about having fun with your own bandmates (allegedly) but it's still a nice, quaint, little track regardless. I suppose it's a little soft/slow considering how hard Reptillia went but I think it's good to be able to have some sort of variety in pace as long as you can back it up. 

12:51 - 80/100 The fun fact about this song and the guitarist is pretty amusing I can't lie, but so far everything is living up to what I remember it to be, which is that this album is very consistent and starts off strong. If I recall most of my gripes came near the end of the album.

You Talk Way Too Much - 80/100 I don't recall this album being that short to be honest but most of my memories of listening to this band usually involve me playing them late at night when I'm by myself on my computer, anyways another good track

Between Love & Hate - 80/100 I don't have much to say about this album other than it's a really solid indie rock record. I don't really hate any of the songs on this album, and I really love the first two which help give it a high score to me. It's pretty much why I also enjoy The New Abnormal and Is This It so much.

Meet Me in the Bathroom - 85/100 I particularly like the guitar work on this song which is why it gets a higher score than the rest of the tracks before it.

Under Control - 85/100 I don't know if I have nostalgia for this album like a lot of my favourite rated albums since I did listen to this record when I was first a teenager, and it was my companion when I stayed up doing things on my computer in the wee hours of the day, but I still enjoy it now so does it really matter? It's not like I'm forcing myself to pretend to enjoy it.

The Way It Is - 70/100 When I said I wasn't really the biggest fan of the way this album ended I was pretty much talking about this song. It's still pretty fine enough though if I'm going to be honest, I think a real benefit to this album is that it's relatively short so it never feels like I'm forced to listen to something too long, especially if it's a song I don't like (which is pretty rare in this album).

The End Has No End - 75/100 This song honestly sounds a little disjoined at times, mostly the chorus and the guitar solo, but otherwise it's a decent enough song, certainly not my favourite Strokes song though.

I Can't Win - 80/100 Dare I say this song is better than I remember? I honestly kind of like it now.

Final Score: 81/100

    I think the best way to describe this album is that it has some high's, but they're not that frequent, but it really just has few lows. Thus it's just a really solid record that's consistent all the way through and rarely annoys me. I think that's part of the reason I enjoyed playing it at night as a teenager, also it wasn't as harsh on my ears as a band like My Chemical Romance, no offence to them. Are these scores kind of outrageous? Yes, but honestly this album is probably in my topster if I'm being honest. Maybe not in the top half because I think it lacks the real "star power" in terms of 90-100 songs, but still a spot is a spot.

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