CrazyEightyEight's debut album
Jarrod Alonge, As It Is lead singer Patty Walters, and Red Handed Denial’s very own Lauren Babic recently formed a new band called CrazyEightyEight. Their debut album, Burning Alive, successfully crowdfunded on Kickstarter, is now streaming everywhere where music is available. CrazyEightyEight was originally created because Jarrod, Lauren, and Patty had similar aspirations to create a new band. Despite their troubles creating music between three different countries, they have created such a special album that has concluded 2018 very well.
To help promote Burning Alive, CrazyEightyEight hosted a live streaming party on Youtube the night before the release. Fans were going wild throughout the whole stream by asking question after question and complimenting each song on the album. Many people, including Jarrod himself, said that their music is similar to Underoath. So Underoath fans, make sure you put this album on your radar.
Jarrod Alonge also shared that he “nervous-purchased a pizza” for the premiere. Turns out it only took him seven songs to eat the whole pizza, by himself.
Track Listing
1. Reboot 2. Fortune and Glory, Kid 3. Shinebox 4. I Am Tetsuo 5. Bastard From a Basket 6. The Shimmer 7. Nitroglycerin 8. Tears In Rain 9. Moloko Plus (featuring Garrett Russell of Silent Planet) 10. Hannah 11. You Were Right 12. Ian Hates Gretchen 13. 300 Pages 14. My Friends, You Bow to No One
The first song of the album, “Reboot,” is a perfect introduction for the album. It’s a short introduction yet still gives a taste of what you’re getting yourself into. Track three, “Shinebox” aka “Shinebox 2.0” is a freshly remade version for Burning Alive. Honestly, it is a perfect change. It works with the flow and transitions of the album.
Hey Silent Planet fans, you’re going to like this feature. Garrett Russell is on track nine of the album, “Moloko Plus.” I asked Garrett, “How was it like working with CrazyEightyEight?”
He replied with, “It was fun! Jarrod wanted to write the song around my part, and that was def a unique experience for me.”
As a fan of both Silent Planet and CrazyEightyEight, it’s very obvious that this was the case. The song highlights the talent of Garrett very well and because of this “Moloko Plus” has to be one of my favorite tracks from the album.
Track 10, “Hannah,” is the most laid back song on the album. It includes real strings, performed by a close friend of CrazyEightyEight’s. These strings add to a distinct texture to the album. It stands out on the album the most because it is very different than the other songs, but is certainly still a great song that highlights unique talent.
A few more songs play and then the album concludes with “My Friends, You Bow to No One.” Even though it is the longest song on the album, it is still a very solid song. At one point in the song you start to believe the album is almost over but CrazyEightyEight added a (another) solid breakdown to finish the album for good.
Seriously, this album is something special. Between Jarrod, Lauren, Patty, and fans, it took a lot of work. In the end, CrazyEightyEight should be proud of this album and we should be too.
After the Youtube livestream ended, fans were going crazy with positive thoughts. For example Colton Peters said, “I can feel how hard you guys worked on this album. This is crazy.” The CrazyEightyEight fanbase is something really special because Joshua Rosario also shared, “This is like the best album I’ve ever heard in my life.” Multiple questions in the livestream were also asked about the next album and tour. I can’t tell you when the next album will be but if more people support CrazyEightyEight, the chances of a tour are raised.
JK HGGNS, with my favorite comment of the whole stream, “I haven’t added anything to the chat because I’ve been deeply immersed in the music. I’m so proud of you guys. I listened to 400 albums this year, and this just made it to my top 10. Well done.”
To give you a taste of the album, check out the new video for “Bastard From a Basket” here!
