Hot New Joint: "Come Crashing" by Failure

The good news from Failure just keeps coming.

First it was that after, like fifteen years, the band was getting back together for some live shows on the West Coast.

Then it was that the reunion tour had expanded nationally.

Now there is word of a new album coming in 2015—with a taste of things to come arriving RIGHT NOW in the form of the band’s latest single “Come Crashing.”

Needless to say, this is a truly #blessed occasion indeed.

While principle songwriters Ken Andrews and Greg Edwards have remained busy with other projects since the band’s dissolution, it is incredibly refreshing and reassuring to hear them working together again.  A stereotypical red flag when bands get back together after a lengthy break up is that any new material is going to sound phoned in and terrible, and won’t hold your interest while you stand around at a reunion concert, waiting to hear more of “the hits.”

Maybe it’s just me, but within the first thirty seconds, I couldn’t help but smile at the possibly self-referential wink to the band’s twenty-year-old song “Empty Friend.” Here, Andrews sings lowly, “Some empty friend you wished would float away.” On Fantastic Planet, the songwriting duties were split with Andrews contributing the music, and Edwards (in the throes of addiction) wrote the lyrics. Now, with the band all sobered up, it is interesting to hear a Failure song with lyrics that are not about space, or heroin, or space as a thinly veiled metaphor for heroin, but performing with a newfound energy and power, writing lyrics now with heavy, mysterious imagery.

Musically, it still retains that sharp "Failure" edge that they are best known for, and Ken Andrews' years spent as a producer and engineer for countless other acts has certainly aided in making Failure's sound much larger this time around.

“Come Crashing” is the kind of song that keeps you guessing. A friend of mine pointed this out after listening to it—there are moments when you think you know what direction it’s going to take, but as a song, it’s actually way too smart to be that predictable, and instead, it saves all the build up that it has been working towards, as well as avoiding, until the very end for a rewarding, comforting pay off.

"Come Crashing" is available now as a digital single from the band's Bandcamp page, or available as part of the Tree of Stars Tour EP.