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]
Brandon, first of all,thanks for the review.
ReplyDeleteAll in all a rather positive review , especialy
from someone i knew would absolutely loathe this kind of music.
Then why did i send it to olive music? Well to be honest, i just wanted to know if it was any good....for myself, the label and for the band it must be the best thing ever....but what would somebody think of it who had never heard these songs before or knew nothing of the band. And who of course really isn't in to pop-rock at all.
You are right in saying that there was little or nothing info of the band....treu! I wanted the music reviewed ,not influenced bij promotional blabber.
On the christian rock question i can tell you it is not, however i can understand the confusion, there is a lot of biblical reference in the songtitels...
Thanks for the nice comments on the sound of the record, it was recorded last august in eight days and i feel the band and the producer
did a great job getting the band's live sound on tape..
So, once again thanks for the review, sorry it wasn't the kind of music you usually listen to.
O, and for propably never listening to it again....o well....you never know.
Greetings, Joop van Gemert, JVGM
Holland
Hey no problem! Like I said, when I saw it, I was sure I would hate it, but I actually liked it more than I though. Not my cup of tea, but I had a blast listening to and thinking about this particular piece of music, keep up the good work!
Delete-B
Listen to all of the songs on this album...But be aware : not what you may be used to at the olive!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.musicfrom.nl/player/mp3player.php?1=1&artistIds=2659&showAllArtistFiles=true
Greetings, Joop
Now available on soundcloud!
ReplyDeletehttp://soundcloud.com/jvgm
You may be interested to know the album is now on Spotify.
ReplyDeletehttp://open.spotify.com/album/5S76ACqq43VYZWlx6BZamJ
have fun, and keep up the good work