So this CD comes in the mail, and sometimes, I wonder if people read the reviews I write for this blog, or just send whatever they can to whoever they can (an effective strategy if you believe there is no such thing as bad press), because I usually write about the more 'avant-garde' and 'underground' releases (plus 10 pretentious points), and typically I review music that I feel deserves attention, because life is too short to listen to bad music, right? Right, so when looking at this CD, I was confused. This looks like something that came straight out of the 90's, and not in a cool 'indie-sludge' way, but a boring 'alt-rock' way.
What really bothered me wasn't the lack of interesting album art, the press release that basically said 'Hello, this is a compact disc full of music', or the back cover photo in an astonishing resolution of 72 dots per inch, but the track titles. With songs names like "Walls Of Jericho", "The Message", and "God Caught Her Stealing A Heart In The Morning", I had no choice but to gulp. Was this really... Christian Rock? If you're still reading by this point, you're probably expecting me to rip this album apart. The truth is, it's actually not bad.
The album is your basic rock-'n-roll band, clean four-chord power-pop instrumentation, bland yet catchy lyrics, and the occasional guitar solo. What makes it slightly above the bar I set so high is how well it all sounds. This album is produced incredibly well (though again, it's nothing new or groundbreaking, your basic rock band set up), by the band itself I presume (no producer was listed in the credits). I even found myself nodding my head to most of the tracks on this one. The guitar work is pretty good, and the vocals are great as well. All in all, it's slightly above average and, if it is religious, I couldn't tell. The standout track is also the title track, "Why?", which is your basic shout-rock anthem, but is pretty good nonetheless. If you do decide to give this one a home on your CD spindle or hard drive, (which I wouldn't specifically condone or warn against), you'll want to avoid the acoustic tracks (or as I call them, snore ballads). All in all, Why? was a humbling and interesting experience, but to be honest, I'll probably never listen to this again.
[Fervid Webpage]
[Buy How? from JVGM]
