#6 - Assemblage 23 - Bravery
With how much time I have spent listening to this band in the past 7-8 years, it's hard to believe there was a time when I didn't love Tom Shear and Assemblage 23. His song topics generally touch on depression, suffering and occasionally on a bad relationship with his father. But before I met my future wife in 2009, I was much less in to electronic music, and I have her to thank for the introduction. In 2010 the band missed out with Smoke while completely (and surprisingly) failing to register any songs off of his 2012 album "Bruise". Late last year Shear took his traveling band on the road to promote his newest album "Endure", which I honestly did not spend a lot of time with in the first two months after its release.
Suddenly I found out that the Washington native was taking show on the road with his touring bandmates, and that they were coming to a venue just 3 hours away from me. My wife and I hit the road and found ourselves at an old church in Newport KY, called Southgate House Revival. We were treated to some heavy industrial noise, some beautiful gothic music, and finally to Assemblage 23. They played almost all of my favorite A23 hits, and some of the better songs off of the new album, including Afterglow, Salt the Earth, and December. The immediate song that jumped out to me was the tale of our #6 song, Bravery.
The album title of Endure is almost antithetical to the message of hopelessness that Shear often waves into his songs, but Bravery is the perfect example of just what it means to endure. It opens with a bouncy high-pitched synth that intersperses itself into the driving drum backbeat and is layered perfectly with a number of joining electrical noises. The song tells the tale of the strength it takes to make it through each passing day:
"a fount of strength is flowing like blood from open veins
a cache of courage to brace against the blinding pain
each one of us fights battles no one else can see
some days just waking up is an act of bravery"
If nothing else, a lot of times Shear sings about fighting through the suicidal voices inside of his head. It's quite terrifying to see how many of his songs touch on the same personal struggles that I go through, but I was definitely grateful that I had a chance to meet him and thank him for his music last winter. I honestly thought this song would crack the top 3 for most of the year, but it still made an indelible mark on 2017 for me and deservedly lands at #6.
Title: Bravery
Artist: Assemblage 23
Album: Endure
Previous #6s
2016: Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown - Loaded Dice and Buried Money
2015: Lamb of God - 512
2014: Lo-Fang - When We're Fire
2013: Tegan and Sara - Closer
2012: Lamb of God - King Me
2011: Nine Lashes - Anthem of the Lonely
2010: Them Crooked Vultures - Mind Eraser, No Chaser
2009: Kelly Clarkson - Already Gone
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