Death Is Nothing To Us is the highly anticipated third album from Fiddlehead, the supergroup formed by members of Basement, Stand Off, and the seminal hardcore band Have Heart. Fiddlehead’s previous two records have been nothing short of fantastic, and clearly a cathartic exercise for singer (and high school history teacher) Pat Flynn as he discusses themes of parental loss, becoming a father, and falling in love. ***Death is Nothing To Us closes out the trilogy by leaning the furthest into the themes of grief present on all their records, expressing a humble realization that grief doesn’t always go away.
Their previous album, Between The Richness, could be compared to springtime; it’s a record that depicts flowers and how they bloom in life, describing how far Flynn has come from the loss of his father through the birth of his child. Many of the lyrics read like they were written to be discovered by his kid many years later, something akin to a journal of fatherly advice on how to live a good life. Meanwhile, this album trades springtime for the other season of transition, fall. Autumnal cold seeps in as you remember the leaves must fall again. Here, Flynn remembers that despite all the new beginnings in his life, death still lurks around the corner.
However, that doesn’t mean Flynn is giving up — most of the lyrical themes on this record are about overcoming struggles. This is a big surprise from the frontman of one of the biggest hardcore bands of all time. Where there would be aggression, Flynn trades it for sentimentality. On “Fiddleheads,” a favourite track of mine, Flynn laments how the world simply asks us to “get by and die” rather than allowing us to express ourselves.
Learning to cope with grief and accepting that life is unfair is a central theme, but thanks to Flynn’s background as a history teacher it rarely comes across as angsty. He rejects the way life wears us down and discourages us from letting things mean something. His lyrical style is exceptionally unique, feeling more akin to prose that draws the listener into his perspective on the world. You can hear just how much there is in Flynn’s life that influences and inspires him: references to authors, musicians, and his two children, are everywhere on Death Is Nothing To Us. Flynn is inspired to live life, and he wants you to be inspired too.
Instrumentally, Fiddlehead continues to shine. Every song feels immaculately composed, interweaving guitar and bass lines to create brilliant moments of harmony that perfectly contrast Flynn’s vocals. At times, the instrumentals seem to know that they are the main melody to the song, and vocals often take a backseat to their glittering heights. Tracks like “Sleepyhead” are perfect examples of this. Flynn is never overbearing with his vocals and lets the instruments shine for themselves. All of this is held together by the excellent drumming, which seems to know exactly what every song needs in order to shine.
If I had to pick just one track, it would have to be “True Hardcore (II)” featuring Justice Tripp of Trapped Under Ice and Angel Du$t fame. A sequel to a song they didn’t write, “True Hardcore” by Sebadoh, “True Hardcore (II)” is a love letter to the uniting desire for self-expression that draws people to the genre of hardcore. Justice’s lyric, “too true for you,” comes in during the chorus, boosting the energy on an already anthemic track by encouraging authentic self-expression without regret. As the song ends, Flynn beckons to the listener: “Not a damn thing, to the ‘evil-fake’ / We, the evergreen, we owe you nothing.” Autumn brings a lot of change — summer’s end is always premature and the leaves start to die off as the cold drifts in. However, the evergreens won’t be changed, and not even grief can take away their colour.
