The Christian rockers (didn’t you know that this kind exists?) Switchfoot from San Diego are nor in the stage of their highest evolvement. After the brilliant Oh Gravity (2006), the quintet earned the status of the leading grunge formation in these days, and Hello Hurricane (2009) expectedly helped them solidify the current state. No-one really thinks this band would jerk sideward off their style. For about ten years, Switchfoot were working on the sound that characterizes their latest releases, and you can rest in assurance that they will not exchange it for anything else. Having matured, the American musicians take a more responsible and thoughtful approach to working in the studio, which now grabs more of their time than it did in the past. But then, they can stand tall and proud of the results. Proud will they be of their newest album as well, effort number eight that is called Vice Verses. The double-CD version features, apart from the unreleased material, live recordings of the Hello Hurricane set.
As the members of Switchfoot stated, Vice Verses would be based on a very powerful rhythm section that would be the characteristic feature of the upcoming release. The band is keeping the word right off. The first three songs serve to build a foundation for the rest of the record as they form a solid alloy of everything a Switchfoot fans might be dreaming of. Afterlife crashes onto you with the trademark intensity of the band’s guitars, the following The Original will get you dizzy with the breakneck speed, and The War Inside will impress you with a mighty chorus and an easily recognizable battle-hymn rhythm. Restless, and Behind The Light slow it down and offer more serious lyrics to ponder over about reaching peace inside oneself and the struggle between an individual and crowd. Selling The News looks like the first and, likely, the last real experiment on the album. Vocalist John Foreman rather speaks than sings as he lays out a story. In the second half of the album, you will find not only blazing punk-rock pieces like single Dark Horses, or Rise Above It, but also a couple of classy milder sounding tracks. These are Souvenirs, a song about the preciousness and frailty of youth, and the title track, Vice Verses, with heart-stopping vocals supported by beautiful acoustic.
Vice Verses is endowed with a truly effective final song, another speculation on a Christian subject, Where I Belong. Switchfoot once more prove that calling their music Christian rock is not fully correct. The musicians are pretty confident and sincere in speaking of their views through songs, but their music is not only for those who share the same beliefs. However, for quite a while, the Chritian rock mark was somewhat scaring listeners off from Switchfoot. Now it clear that any rock music fan can find in the group’s music something to his satisfaction. Vice Verses is a serious contender to the title of the American quintet’s best work to date. It features a perfectly kept balance between fast and relatively heavy stuff and touching ballads. Should this record be the first in Switchfoot discography that you get to hear it is highly likely that you would like to have a closer look at the contribution of this great ensemble.
Oh! Gravity.
Nothing Is Sound
Cassadaga 2007
A repetition of Bright Eyes' break through of 2005 could seem a difficult task to cope with, but not for Conor Oberst. His new disc Cassaganda is capable to lead all the previous achievements of this band if not overshadow them
