The Casket Lottery “Survival is for Cowards” CD

I don't have much time today between work and getting massively hooked up with loads of rare material from upstate New York bands (like Stigmata, Withstand, and End of Line), so of course I'm going in the completely opposite direction with today's post—since I like to mix it up and all. The Casket Lottery is neither an unfamiliar name nor one that dates back but so far, but despite having been relatively popular in their day, in no way did they get enough attention, and they're certainly not really brought up enough these days either—especially considering that it hasn't even been that long since their "breakup". (For the record, at this point the band won't cite anything as official, so they're not technically "broken up", but aside from some unexpected live performances earlier this year, they're certainly far from "active".)

"Survival is for Cowards" was the Kansas City trio's third and final full-length for Second Nature Recordings, released four years ago in the first half of 2002. However, this was not their final release by a long shot, as the band boasts a rather extensive discography for having only been in full swing for around five years. While the project initially started when the lineup still had ties to the not-at-all-similar Coalesce, The Casket Lottery quickly became its own beast, and I was hooked soon after initially discovering the band (which was admittedly a touch later than I would've preferred since I was never a big Coalesce fan at all).

But for me, this is one of the most brilliant emo albums of all time (yes, let's call it what it is, most of you are old enough to remember what "emo" really is, so stop whining about the modernized perversion of genre tags). It's simply outstanding on every level—from musicianship and recording quality to artwork and lyrics. There's all kinds of shit going on, too. Gorgeous clean guitars and lush layering with lots of nice singing, heavier moments with a little bit of screaming/shouting, killer drum work and pounding basslines all around, etc. This is by far my favorite of their releases, and the memorable songwriting is a good deal more intricate than it might seem, not to mention far more artistic and involved than the vast majority of such "emo" expeditions. The entire album is solid gold, but these two tracks in particular kick my ass every damn time:

The Casket Lottery "Code Red"
The Casket Lottery "Since You"

This one's still an easy find, so if you need a break from the "brutal" and happened to have missed out (and I know for a fact that there are loads of people who have missed out on this gem), then I suggest you remedy the dilemma:

RevHQ
Very Distribution