Opposite Way
Posted March 11, 2008
By thirdsaint,
Promising band starts out with amazingly young group, lead singer is 18 when he writes his first tune, put out impressive debut that goes outside the boundries of Christian music, band gets big, band follows up with....crappy sophomore effort? Yikes, and they showed so much promise too. Gone are the epic pop pieces with unique song structure. Instead they made music that's 'safe' for the radio.
Oh it's not all bad, I suppose. The first single, 'Count Me In' is great fun and was a blast when they introduced it live. The crowd was into it, I was rocking out, entirely sure that their album would follow suit, but that was months ago. Then comes two songs of filler before the title track comes in and blows me away. Maybe the best song they've done aside from Tears of the Saints, what with it's brooding music and poignant lyrics about it being alright to go the other way and not follow the trend being set by society. After that is the ever boring 'Wake Up' that does nothing for me. Just another standard rock track with nothing to offer. 'Beginning and the End' is the last track on the album that is any good and it is, indeed, amazing. I guess it's just how Leeland sings the lyrics that make the song so catchy and irresistable. Ok, so we are 6 songs in and that's where the good stops, you ask? Pretty much. 'Thief in the Night' is alright at the end but it takes too long to get to the goods.
What we have here is the very definition of 'sophomore slump'. If you ask me, maybe they should've taken more time to craft the songs than a year and a half for this album. It could've been something good with more time but instead seems to be made to appeal to the masses, which will probably lap it up. The lyrics were very spiritual as always but come on! I want a challenge in my listening experience! I won't give up on them yet but they have a lot of work to do to win me back entirely with the third album.
Gems of this album are: 'Count Me In', 'Beginning and the End', 'Opposite Way'
Overall - 6.9/10 View All Music And Book Reviews By thirdsaint | View thirdsaint's Profile
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