Let's Give the Land Back to the Animals by Bitter Branches

Bitter Branches consists of veterans from the 90’s hardcore scene, including vocalist Tim Singer (Deadguy, Kiss It Goodbye), drummer Jeff Tirabassi (Walleye), guitarists Matt Ryan (Cavalry) and Kevin Sommerville (Lighten Up!), and bassist/vocalist Dan Yemin (Paint It Black, Kid Dynamite, Lifetime)… quite a supergroup!

Let’s Give the Land Back to the Animals is the sophmore album from Bitter Branches and a followup to their 2022 debit, Your Neighboards Are Failures which was my #4 album that year.

The band may have the 90’s hardcore background, but their sound is squarely in the Black Flag crossed with The Jesus Lizard realm of hardcore and post-hardcore. The lyrics are everything you’d expect from Tim Singer writing about our current world. It’s a powerful combination and makes for a super album.

From Equal Vision:

Those types of magical moments are what lie at the core of the album. It’s an undeniably aggressive collection of songs, but there’s so much nuance in the antagonism — and Singer is as critical of himself as he is of the forces that are conspiring against him. “I’m an angry vegan so there’s a little bit of that, but I’m also an angry environmentalist and anti-capitalist," he explains. “A lot of that stuff we know is terrible we just gloss over and look the other way, myself included.”

Song Highlights

I’ve loved Tim Singer as a lyricist since his days in No Escape (and Deadguy and Kiss it Goodbye), so I’m going to focus on the lyrics for the highlights. You can grab a few songs down below in the videos (or Bandcamp embed)…

On “Cave Dwellers” Singer looks at identity politics and the divisions created to turn us against one another:

Is that my god or one of yours?
I’m guilty before I’ve said a word.
Maybe I’m saying nothing.
Maybe I’m saying too much.
A man born in a cave doesn’t know he can’t see.

Can you identify me?

Is that my flag? Or is it yours?
I’d rather be dirty than pure.
Bad thoughts just swim inside my head.
Inside my head. They’ve sealed my fate.
I’m trying hard not to turn love into hate.

Is this my country or is it yours?
Are these my thoughts?
Or just my failures? Am I a man?
Or am I just another, an other?

On “7-11” Singer looks at the trappings of capitalism:

I’m a victim of my own crime.
I’m a good one, I stand in line.
Entertain me.
Sustain me.
Feed me, all the time.
Turn off your brain.
It will be just fine.
Give me convenience.
Give me decadence.
Give me deities.
Tell me I’m going to heaven.
I’ll be just fine.
No one held a gun to my head.
They whispered sweet nothings instead.
Afraid of rumors and opinions.
Afraid of words and misgivings.
Sell me fireworks and distractions.
I’m off to buy the next ornament.
That next paycheck fits nice and tight around my neck.

On “Here Comes the Chisel” Singer looks at the racism of our current administration, using a reference to Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”…

Watching bodies swing where the one-eyed man is king. If you get tired of counting corpses you can listen to the caged bird sing. Feel the sting.
Feel the sting.

We’ve all been playing dead.
We’ve all been seeing red.
We’ve all been played. Can’t you see the strings?