''We Are the Romans'' is the second and final studio album by American
metalcore band
Botch. It was originally released in November 1999 through
Hydra Head Records
Hydra Head Records was an independent record label that specializes in extreme metal music, founded in New Mexico by Aaron Turner (the frontman of Isis) in 1993. It had another imprint, Hydra Head Noise Industries, which specialized in experiment ...
.
Since its release, it has been seen as an influential album on
metalcore and
hardcore music.
Recording
In 1999, Botch recorded some live demos with
Matt Bayles
Matt Bayles (born October 19, 1972) is an American record producer, Mixing engineer, mixer, Audio engineer, engineer, and musician, based in Seattle, Washington. Bayles (pronounced 'Bay-Less') is known for his work with bands such as The Classic ...
for their second studio album and follow up to ''
American Nervoso''. Two months later, Botch returned to Litho Studios with Bayles to record what would become ''We Are the Romans''. The group only had approximately one week to track the album, and according to Knudson, the group "
ushedto get everything done and do it as well as we wanted to."
[ Bennett 2009, pp. 318–319] As a last minute addition to the album, Botch rewrote and rerecorded the song "Frequenting Mass Transit"—originally released on a split release with Murder City Devils—and changed the title to "Frequency Ass Bandit".
[ Bennett 2009, p. 321]
Composition and lyrics
The title of the album was derived from the lyrics to the album's closing track "Man the Ramparts". According to Verellen: "Brian
ook
Ook, OoK or OOK may refer to:
* Ook Chung (born 1963), Korean-Canadian writer from Quebec
* On-off keying, in radio technology
* Toksook Bay Airport (IATA code OOK), in Alaska
* Ook!, an esoteric programming language based on Brainfuck
* Ook, th ...
thought it'd make a great title, but I thought it was a totally silly gladiator song. The riff is kinda huge, so I was thinking about chariots and fire and stuff like that. It sounds like I pulled the words out of ''
Conan the Barbarian
Conan the Barbarian (also known as Conan the Cimmerian) is a fictional sword and sorcery hero who originated in pulp magazines and has since been adapted to books, comics, films (including '' Conan the Barbarian'' and '' Conan the Destroyer'') ...
''. But then we started talking about the social decline of Western civilization, and how Americans are the new
Romans
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
—it's all slaves and
Caesars. So we made it work."
Bassist Brian Cook, who determined many of the song titles, credits
J. G. Ballard
James Graham Ballard (15 November 193019 April 2009) was an English novelist, short story writer, satirist, and essayist known for provocative works of fiction which explored the relations between human psychology, technology, sex, and mass med ...
's book ''
The Atrocity Exhibition
''The Atrocity Exhibition'' is an experimental novel of linked stories or "condensed novels" by British writer J. G. Ballard.
The book was originally published in the UK in 1970 by Jonathan Cape. After a 1970 edition by Doubleday & Company ...
'' as inspiring themes of "the human body as a landscape, and the way that culture and environment sort of dictates the human body and vice versa."
[J. Bennett, "Fallen Empire", ''Precious Metal: Decibel Presents the Stories Behind 25 Extreme Metal Masterpieces'', Albert Mudrian, ed., Da Capo Press, p. 322.]
Promotion and release
''We Are the Romans'' was released in November 1999 through Hydra Head Records on both CD and double LP vinyl formats.
[ Simons 1999, p. SL19]
Botch's first show in support of ''We Are the Romans'' was the final show for the Seattle venue Rkcndy with
The Blood Brothers, Playing Enemy and
Kill Sadie
Kill Sadie (also Killsadie) was a Minneapolis-based post-hardcore band active from 1997 to 2001. The band adopted the DIY ethic of constant touring, rather than other forms of promotion. Several members of the band went on to perform with better ...
in October 1999. The club was an all-ages venue that was being demolished to make way for a hotel. Verellen expressed his admiration for playing all-ages shows stating that, "People go to all-ages shows to see the bands, but people will go to bars... and while they're at the show, they're just hanging out with their friends. That doesn't mean all bar shows are like that, but that's what makes me not want to play bars, basically."
In 2000, Botch toured Europe with
The Dillinger Escape Plan
The Dillinger Escape Plan was an American metalcore band. The band was formed in 1997 in Morris Plains, New Jersey by guitarist Ben Weinman, bassist Adam Doll, vocalist Dimitri Minakakis, and drummer Chris Pennie. The band's use of odd time si ...
, and also went on a smaller North American tour later that year.
[ Bennett 2007, p. 104] On July 28, 2001, Botch performed at
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...
's hardcore festival
Krazy Fest 4,
which also featured
Coalesce
Coalesce may refer to:
*Coalesce (band), a metalcore band from Kansas City, Missouri, active from 1994 to 1999, 2005–
**Coalesce discography, a list of Coalesce's albums and songs
* COALESCE, an SQL function
*Null coalescing operator, a binary o ...
,
Converge
Converge may refer to:
* Converge (band), American hardcore punk band
* Converge (Baptist denomination), American national evangelical Baptist body
* Limit (mathematics)
* Converge ICT, internet service provider in the Philippines
*CONVERGE CFD s ...
,
Poison the Well and
Harkonen among others.
A remastered two disc edition was later released on September 11, 2007.
A Hydra Head repressing of the vinyl was released on October 25, 2011. The repress sold out on pre-order in under 20 minutes.
On November 4, 2022,
Sargent House will reissue ''We Are the Romans'' following the collapse of Hydra Head Records. The reissue notably features the newly written and recorded bonus track "
One Twenty Two
"One Twenty Two" is a single by the American rock band Botch. The song was released as a digital single on August 24, 2022 and will serve as a bonus track on the reissue of Botch's '' We Are the Romans'', to be released on November 4, 2022 throug ...
" .
Reception and legacy
The album achieved critical acclaim upon release and would become an influential work of music on the mathcore and metalcore movements.
Loudwire named the album fifth in its rankings of the 25 best Metalcore albums of all-time
and ''
Metal Hammer
''Metal Hammer'' is a heavy metal music magazine and website founded in 1983, published in the United Kingdom by Future, with other language editions available in numerous other countries. ''Metal Hammer'' features news, reviews and long-form ...
'' magazine named it one of the 20 best 1999 metal albums in a 2021 list.
In November 2005, ''We Are the Romans'' was inducted into the
''Decibel'' magazine Hall of Fame, with Decibel naming it one of the most influential
hardcore
Hardcore, hard core or hard-core may refer to:
Arts and media Film
* ''Hardcore'' (1977 film), a British comedy film
* ''Hardcore'' (1979 film), an American crime drama film starring George C Scott
* ''Hardcore'' (2001 film), a British documen ...
albums of the 1990s.
"C. Thomas Howell as the 'Soul Man'" has been described by the band as satirizing
Racetraitor
Racetraitor is an American hardcore punk band originally from Chicago, Illinois. The band attracted controversy in the late 1990s, before any releases, as a result of their radical take on racial politics, which focused on ideas like systemic ra ...
and "other bands with these very lofty political ideals that seemed like more a marketing tool for the genre of political hardcore rather than a sincere agenda" (Brian Cook).
Track listing
All songs written and arranged by Botch.
Remaster bonus disc
Credits
Writing, performance and production credits are adapted from the album liner notes.
Personnel
Botch
*
Dave Verellen
Dave Verellen is an American singer. He grew up in Tacoma, Washington, and was the vocalist for the influential mathcore band Botch. He has since gone on to play drums for the folk-country band Roy with his brother Ben Verellen (of Harkonen). ...
–
vocals
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...
*
Dave Knudson –
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...
*
Brian Cook –
bass guitar
The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...
, backing vocals
* Tim Latona –
drums
Additional musicians
* Sylvia Kehl – vocals on "Man the Ramparts"
* Logic Probe – manipulation, arrangement of "Thank God for Worker Bees"
** DuROC
** Colossus
Production
* Botch –
production
Production may refer to:
Economics and business
* Production (economics)
* Production, the act of manufacturing goods
* Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services)
* Production as a stati ...
*
Matt Bayles
Matt Bayles (born October 19, 1972) is an American record producer, Mixing engineer, mixer, Audio engineer, engineer, and musician, based in Seattle, Washington. Bayles (pronounced 'Bay-Less') is known for his work with bands such as The Classic ...
– production,
recording
A record, recording or records may refer to:
An item or collection of data Computing
* Record (computer science), a data structure
** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity
** Boot sector or boot record, r ...
,
mixing
* Ed Brooks –
remastering
* Jeff Rigourd – live recording of "Vietmam" and "Hutton's Great Heat Engine"
Visual art
* Carrie Whitney – photography
* Jason Hellmann – photography
(live)
* Dave Knudson – art direction, design
* John Pettibone – lights
Locations
Studios
* Studio Litho – recording (May 31, 1999
(demos), June 29 – July 8, 1999)
* Avast – mixing (July 11–15, 1999)
* RFI Mastering – remastering (June 5, 2007)
Venues
* Graceland,
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
,
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
, US – live recording of "Saint Matthew Returns to the Womb" and "Transitions from Persona to Object"
* ''unknown venue'',
Rennes, France – live recording of "Vietmam" and "Hutton's Great Heat Engine"
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Botch (band) albums
2000 albums
Hydra Head Records albums
Albums produced by Matt Bayles