It has been an incredibly long nine year journey since the 2014 release of Get Hurt. After the band announced their indefinite hiatus shortly after wrapping up touring supporting the album, the future of The Gaslight Anthem was up in the air for a little while. Lead vocalist and guitarist Brian Fallon spent his time curating a back catalogue of solo albums, but it wasn’t quite the same feeling as the band that brought his name to prominence. Now on the other side of a global pandemic and reunion tour, nearing ten years since their last release, the time is finally right for the plaster to be ripped off and for The Gaslight Anthem to reemerge in full with a new album in hand, self releasing on their own record label, Rich Mahogany Recordings, with a few special guests in tow.
History Books stirs to life with the bittersweet ‘Spider Bites’, immediately conjuring the atmospheres and energies of The 59’ Sound, the bands widely celebrated breakthrough album, a decision that holds true for the album as a whole. A dramatic and stomping rock introduction gives way to Brian Fallon’s emotive vocal performance and poignant lyrics: “We circle ‘round the sun until someday we won’t….And I’ll love you forever ‘til the day that I don’t”. Light notes of piano backing his melodies as the band builds a bit more before breaking into a melancholic chorus that embeds itself deep.
“Overwhelmingly heart wrenching and warming simultaneously.”
Title track ‘History Books’ anthemic from its start. Packed to the brim with emotionally charged guitar and vocal melodies, the title track features The Boss himself, Bruce Springsteen. One of the primary sources of musical inspiration for The Gaslight Anthem, his unmistakable raspy croon adding extra grandeur and soul to the heart of the song and the album. Initially presented as the bands return single, ‘Positive Charge’ was the first taste of what was to come with History Books and now sits perfectly in the tracklist. A self-reflective and incredibly personal song about growth and overcoming mental health struggles. The closing lyrics of “How I’ve missed you and it’s good to be alive” referring to not only Fallon himself, but the band and their audiences as well is overwhelmingly heart wrenching and warming simultaneously.
‘Michigan, 1975’ is a standout track on the album, sitting right in the middle of the track list. Inspired by Jeffrey Eugenides’ 1993 novel ‘The Virgin Suicides’, the dark and upsetting subject matter of the novel translates uncomfortably well to the sedate and dreamy instrumental. Supported by the haunting lyrics derived from the novels tale of family tragedy, its odd to admit that one of the darkest moments on the album is one of it’s most enjoyable. Immediately following is ‘Little Fires’, which has a lot more urgency in the song’s pacing, a welcome change after the previous track. It’s for good reason too, as ‘Little Fires’ is described by the band as an “empowerment song, about refusing to play along with the kind of people who always seem to be throwing a grenade into the room”. It also features the melodic bite of Stefan Babcock of the Canadian Punk Rockers PUP as an additional vocalist, adding to the various vocal harmonies strewn throughout the track for one of the more upbeat and almost celebratory moments on the album.
“Packed to the brim with emotionally charged guitar and vocal melodies”
‘I Live In The Room Above Her’ explodes with powerful guitar riffs, staging a grand introduction, tempering off a little for the verses while still holding a bite to the tones. The dramatic swinging of the main hook culminates in the biggest chorus on History Books. The distorted guitar tones ring out and a softer final verse fades out. Album closer ‘A Lifetime of Preludes’ mirrors the solemn album introduction of ‘Spider Bites’, sending History Books home on a soft and somber note filled with regretful nostalgia and holding a bittersweet finality to itself.
With The Gaslight Anthem choosing to look back towards their roots, not reinventing the wheel with their reunion, gives History Books a more cohesive feeling than their last effort. This is a beautifully painful return to form for a band that has been sorely missed in the alternative space, sticking a little closer to their melancholy side, their brand of heartfelt and honest rock-and-roll, paired with Fallon’s ever poetic and encapsulating lyricism is just as relevant now as it was in 2008.