Moneta is back: This is All Happening Now

Courtesy of Kelly Mason (kellymason.me)

By Alex Useman

Moneta is back! This Is All Happening Now, the band’s newest and first full-length album, is scheduled to be released on Feb. 10, 2012. Standing at 13 tracks, the album holds together with their pop-punk infused rock sound.

The album takes no time to let you know they aren’t messing around. We Are the Fallen is a solid opener. It has a slight feeling of being frantic, namely in the first half of the chorus, but it fits well with the song. This is a good choice for an album opener and will be a strong live piece especially because of the breakdown which whispers, “You guys ready for this? Alright, let’s get it then,” which will undeniably get the crowd going. The song ends slowly, in a way that allows the next song to start gradually and build on its own. Like Smoke does exactly that. It builds from drums into keyboard and vocals, then into bass and finally at the end of the verse, all instruments kick into the chorus.

Save Me from Myself  was released when the band announced their reunion. The music video was the first taste of the new album and was the only song available for preview besides Like Smoke (released a couple weeks later). The song flows like blood through the veins. As the song ends, the background vocals become the lead. “One day you will say, you won’t, say that you will, say that you won’t.”

Ghost in this Machine’s chorus is taken from their second EP, Patterns in the Static, but the rest of the song is new material; complete with a driving bass groove, harmonized guitar riffs, and a synthesized theremin sound. The song blends into the next track, Call Me Snake, an instrumental interlude with parts of Get Yourself Right’s chorus mixed in.

Get Yourself Right has a sense of familiarity to it despite it being new material. It has a soul that, I believe, will show itself most during a live performance.

Lost Your Will has tiebacks to past songs, almost like homage to past fans. It is the slowest song on the record, but don’t use that as a reason to skip it.  This song, along with Kid Go (from their first EP), are the two tracks that are “lights off, lighters up” songs.

Same Damn Town features guest singer Colleen D’ Agostino of The Material. It’s much more of a dance number than a rock song but still has a good rock pulse to keep the album driving into This Gun is Loaded.

I Hope You’re Happy’s lyrics remain mellow and almost melancholic throughout the whole song, creating a sense of being lost and confused. But the chorus is the striking part of this song because it makes the hopelessness of the verses come to a resolute statement of, “I hope you’re happy you betrayed us all / I hope she makes you forget, all the moments you spent / I hope you’re happier without us all / Because you deserve to know / Just what it’s like to be alone.”

How It Feels to Breathe has a spacey kind of intro followed by a hard kick in to the first verse. This song, like We are the Fallen, could easily be the first song of a set. The verses are calm but driving until the chorus takes that energy and makes it explode. The breakdown into the bridge is: “We can never know, we can never see anything that’s coming for us / So we always live alone, always bleed alone til the end.” After the song ends like it began, the last song of the album begins.

Keep Safe Those Who Can’t Fight is a mix of dance, ballad and rock. It balances these aspects in different parts of the song. The second verse weaves rock and dance aspects throughout. The chorus is solidly rooted in rock, then, after it ends for the second time, it moves into the bridge, which stakes the aspect of ballad then returns to the last verse, and ends abruptly to let the whole experience swirl inside of your head.