#2. The Broken Relics - Where The Creatures Roam
Looking back through the first 10 years of the Countdown, the #2 spot has always been a curiosity. Some years, the battle for #1 is neck and neck all the way down the wire, and some years it's more of a runaway. In 2015, Purity Ring was literal miles ahead of any other song released, while in 2011 I didn't actually decide on the final two spots until the day that I wrote the blurb. One of the more intriguing things about 2019 is that the top 4 songs all had valid claims to the #1 spot at one point or another, but in the end it still ended up being a landslide. That is in no way indicative to how big or small our #2 was this year, however.
It started back in February, when I was flipping through our local rock station's Facebook page to try and discover new local acts for Music in Motion to cover. This process usually causes me to tune out, hearing uninspired and uninteresting acts over and over again, but I was immediately smitten by the sound of The Broken Relics' first single, "Don't Look Back". I e-mailed their manager, and ended up setting up a meeting with the band the next day. I very quickly became enamored with the band, both in their strength of character but also in the way that we all connected on a musical level. You can read that interview here. The guys were gracious enough to allow me to preview a rough copy of their upcoming EP, With Reverence, and that was where the true love affair began. Each song holds its own against the other, and none of them should ever be skipped. I also wrote a review for the record here, and it was my highest reviewed new release of 2019. If you want excitement, listen to "Don't Look Back" or "Got Away". If you want lyrical passion and poignancy, listen to "The Mortal" or "Lost Again". And, if you want one of the best local songs I've ever heard released, check out "Where The Creatures Roam".
And that's really saying something, right? Two years ago Morning Theft took the #1 spot, and last year we had Curse of Cassandra and Vesperteen landing in the top 5. But if I were to take all of the local music I've absorbed in the last 3 years, I think this one would take the crown. The opening guitar sets the somber tone for the record, and singer Bryce Warmouth's voice tells a story of pain, heartache, and the need for absolution. Warmouth told me earlier this year that the beauty of the song is that it wasn't written with one specific instance in mind; instead relating to several different trials that he had gone through and needed to expunge from within. It's a slower song compared to its compatriots on the EP, but it makes up in sheer musical and vocal power, with the rest of the band building their instruments around Warmouth's wail. After 4 minutes of passionate anguish, you're treated to a soaring, resplendent guitar solo from Bryce's older brother Zach. The EP then transitions to a piano interlude of the song, in case all of that emotion was a little too much for you.
I'll tell you this - it was the perfect emotional song for the entirety of 2019 for me. From the first time I heard (and hit repeat six or seven times) it, to writing this review in the present, the song never lost any relevance to me. Each line hits differently and on any given day it's a different one that lays waste to the barriers surrounding my heart. The opening riff makes the song almost impossible to skip, and with the exception of the singles on the record, it has the most streams on Spotify. The band is poised for bigger and better things after rocketing through their first year, and I think you might end up seeing them on here again in the near future.
Favorite Line: "The pain keeps conquering me, I can't find refuge; I'm so damn sorry"
Title: Where The Creatures Roam
Artist: The Broken Relics
Album: With Reverence
Previous #2s
2018: The War On Drugs - Pain
2017: Future Islands - Ran
2016: Broods - Free
2015: Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness - Cecilia and the Satellite
2014: Morning Parade - Alienation
2013: Aeon Zen - Warning
2012: Meshuggah - Do Not Look Down
2011: Owl City - Galaxies
2010: Periphery - Icarus Lives!
2009: August Burns Red - Rationalist
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