Andrew Jackson Jihad are dead. ‘Christmas Island’ landed in 2014, expanding the folk-punk quartet’s sonic palette as far as it could go. Two years later, they’ve returned under the initialism AJJ. Is it for artistic purposes, to symbolise a new beginning after the tumultuous journey to ‘Christmas Island’? Well, kinda. “We are not Muslims, and as such, it is disrespectful and irresponsible for us to use the word jihad in our band’s name,” Sean Bonnette recently observed. So they followed that up by, er, calling their sixth LP ‘The Bible 2’.
For the most part, ‘The Bible 2’ picks up where ‘Christmas Island’ left off, albeit in a more brazen, bullish fashion. Where its predecessor had its idiosyncrasies and twee charm, ‘The Bible 2’ runs said characteristics through a stadium filter. Golden Eagle’s soaring chorus is what Bruce Springsteen might sound like when having a breakdown and cursing his lack of foresight in not creating the Salad Glove® before AJJ did.
‘The Bible 2’ is over in half an hour, smashing through 11 tracks with the punky, plug-in-and-play aesthetic of yore. Recorded and mixed by John Congleton in nine days, the fuzzy, freaky angles of stuff like Cody’s Theme and Goodbye, Oh Goodbye bring early Against Me! to mind.
Elsewhere, Preston Bryant’s keyboards drive American Garbage into ‘Raditude’/’Hurley’-era Weezer worship but, well, better and Junkie Church is a subtle ditty that’s like Rivers Cuomo and Frank Iero holding hands backed by ambitious, almost orchestral flourishes.
AJJ’s bizarre trappings, meanwhile, are turned up to 11 thanks to Bonnette’s vocal delivery. This album is seriously catchy, but in the larynx of a lesser singer could have ended up sticky sweet and a bit predictable. Bonnette’s contorted, almost ashamed words stink with integrity, telling tales of what sounds like a weird-ass childhood.
AJJ’s mouthpiece professes: “When I was a kid, I was a total dick to inanimate objects” during Cody’s Theme, before later claiming that he “found a small red boy inside my tummy” on Small Red Boy. He’s not trying to be odd, and the sincerity with which the vocals are delivered ensures the songs are never derailed by ‘wackiness’ and ‘zany antics’. To be honest, the lyrics feel normal by the end of it.
‘The Bible 2’ probably isn’t going to be a multi-platinum hit that ends Drake’s career and instigates Nirvana levels of fandom. But Bonnette has unveiled his sharpest, strangest lyric sheet yet and, as a result, AJJ now have what is arguably their strongest record to date.
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