Klatzke
12/05/08, 05:10 PM
Evans Blue - The Melody and Energetic Nature of Volume
Record Label: Hollywood Records
Release Date: February 21, 2006
"She wears a butterfly on her wrist but you might as well cut it's head off/ she's holding all the weapons to kill the ghost inside."
If you've heard Evans Blue's first album, then you know these lines. They open up the album in what is possibly the greatest fashion I've heard an album open to this date. There's no faulty instrumentals and no gimmicky openers, just these lines delivered with a great display of both energy and passion. Their explosive entry sets the tone for the entire first track ("A Cross and a Girl Named Blessed").
I guess I have a short attention span because there are very few albums that can hold my interest for months, yet alone two years. Among those that have are the new-era-classics such as The Ugly Organ, Transatlanticism, Good News For People Who Love Bad News, and strangely The Melody and the Energetic Nature of Volume. I say strangely because, well, it's an alternative album. I'm not a huge fan of the genre. In fact, most of the radio-ready alternative being cranked out to today bores me to no extent. It's predictable and flat out uninteresting. Obviously enough then, Evans Blue isn't your standard alternative. In all actuality, it's hard to classify it as just alternative. It crosses lines between everything from it's alternative base to progressive rock and metal.
Why this album has such staying power for me I'm not sure I'll ever fully understand. I mean, it's a damn good album, but there are plenty of those I come across that I eventually lose interest in. Maybe it's just the circumstances in which I discovered it, or maybe it's just because of the album itself. With the dynamite opener and just about every song being solid, it's a consistent and reliable album. The first three tracks are an effective trifecta of powerhouse tracks. "Stop and Say You Love Me" opens up with a strong first verse that leads into the soaring chorus that just about adequately displays Kevin Matisyn's full potential and "Cold (But I'm Still Here)" has the greatest radio-friendly potential, but doesn't fall short of the reputation set up by the rest of the album. These lead into "Eclipsed," which is the first weaker track on the album. I say "weaker" because the track is only weak compared to the rest of them. On it's own, it's still a solid song. The next, "Beg," falls straight back into stride with the catchy first verse that leads into one of the most explosive chorus' of the album that declares, "Won't you/ break me/ and then tell me that I loved you/ like anybody else would/ I know you're risking failure/ go run for cover/ you better start tomorrow." They're not enigmatic or witty, but they're straight, to the point, and honest like most of the other lyrics on this album.
"Over" starts off a bit slow but hits it's stride in the first chorus and stays strong throughout the rest of the song. The Sarah McLachlan cover, "Possession," starts out with a pretty heavy riff and then breaks down into Matisyn's singing and eventually into a duet with Tara Maclean throughout the chorus. Although it's a fairly good track, it's one that I tend to skip at this point. "Dark That Follows" opens with some percussion and guitar work and eventually turns into one of the more straightforward alternative tracks from the album. "The Promise and the Threat" shows Matisyn taking over the composition with his dominating vocals and not letting go. As a slower song, "Quote" obviously follows the same pattern. About halfway through it takes a turn though and bursts into a full composition. "The Tease" ends the album on a powerful note. Picking up the pace again, it follows the same kind of explosive report that the early songs like "Beg" and "Cold" did.
This is one of the few albums that I've found myself expressing interest in years after it's release. While it may still have some time to die on me, as of now this is an album that, when I'm in the mood, I can always turn to. It's not going to be everyone's thing, but if you enjoy yourself a little bit of alternative from time to time, Evans Blue was (and still is) blurring genre lines and creating a powerful but accessible sound that many people are sure to fall for. They may never reach the level of success that all the Creed sound-alikes may, but it's definitely not because they don't deserve it.
Downstares; 30 Seconds to Mars' "Attack"; a less predictable Breaking Benjamin; A Perfect Circle's Thirteenth Step
myspace.com/evansblue (http://www.myspace.com/evansblue)
Record Label: Hollywood Records
Release Date: February 21, 2006
"She wears a butterfly on her wrist but you might as well cut it's head off/ she's holding all the weapons to kill the ghost inside."
If you've heard Evans Blue's first album, then you know these lines. They open up the album in what is possibly the greatest fashion I've heard an album open to this date. There's no faulty instrumentals and no gimmicky openers, just these lines delivered with a great display of both energy and passion. Their explosive entry sets the tone for the entire first track ("A Cross and a Girl Named Blessed").
I guess I have a short attention span because there are very few albums that can hold my interest for months, yet alone two years. Among those that have are the new-era-classics such as The Ugly Organ, Transatlanticism, Good News For People Who Love Bad News, and strangely The Melody and the Energetic Nature of Volume. I say strangely because, well, it's an alternative album. I'm not a huge fan of the genre. In fact, most of the radio-ready alternative being cranked out to today bores me to no extent. It's predictable and flat out uninteresting. Obviously enough then, Evans Blue isn't your standard alternative. In all actuality, it's hard to classify it as just alternative. It crosses lines between everything from it's alternative base to progressive rock and metal.
Why this album has such staying power for me I'm not sure I'll ever fully understand. I mean, it's a damn good album, but there are plenty of those I come across that I eventually lose interest in. Maybe it's just the circumstances in which I discovered it, or maybe it's just because of the album itself. With the dynamite opener and just about every song being solid, it's a consistent and reliable album. The first three tracks are an effective trifecta of powerhouse tracks. "Stop and Say You Love Me" opens up with a strong first verse that leads into the soaring chorus that just about adequately displays Kevin Matisyn's full potential and "Cold (But I'm Still Here)" has the greatest radio-friendly potential, but doesn't fall short of the reputation set up by the rest of the album. These lead into "Eclipsed," which is the first weaker track on the album. I say "weaker" because the track is only weak compared to the rest of them. On it's own, it's still a solid song. The next, "Beg," falls straight back into stride with the catchy first verse that leads into one of the most explosive chorus' of the album that declares, "Won't you/ break me/ and then tell me that I loved you/ like anybody else would/ I know you're risking failure/ go run for cover/ you better start tomorrow." They're not enigmatic or witty, but they're straight, to the point, and honest like most of the other lyrics on this album.
"Over" starts off a bit slow but hits it's stride in the first chorus and stays strong throughout the rest of the song. The Sarah McLachlan cover, "Possession," starts out with a pretty heavy riff and then breaks down into Matisyn's singing and eventually into a duet with Tara Maclean throughout the chorus. Although it's a fairly good track, it's one that I tend to skip at this point. "Dark That Follows" opens with some percussion and guitar work and eventually turns into one of the more straightforward alternative tracks from the album. "The Promise and the Threat" shows Matisyn taking over the composition with his dominating vocals and not letting go. As a slower song, "Quote" obviously follows the same pattern. About halfway through it takes a turn though and bursts into a full composition. "The Tease" ends the album on a powerful note. Picking up the pace again, it follows the same kind of explosive report that the early songs like "Beg" and "Cold" did.
This is one of the few albums that I've found myself expressing interest in years after it's release. While it may still have some time to die on me, as of now this is an album that, when I'm in the mood, I can always turn to. It's not going to be everyone's thing, but if you enjoy yourself a little bit of alternative from time to time, Evans Blue was (and still is) blurring genre lines and creating a powerful but accessible sound that many people are sure to fall for. They may never reach the level of success that all the Creed sound-alikes may, but it's definitely not because they don't deserve it.
Downstares; 30 Seconds to Mars' "Attack"; a less predictable Breaking Benjamin; A Perfect Circle's Thirteenth Step
myspace.com/evansblue (http://www.myspace.com/evansblue)