Everything X Album Review
Reckoner is one of the most respected and well known bands of today from small beginnings with the the awkward yet fairly praised album
Invisible to the critically acclaimed
Backstabber, they have returned with the odd yet unique sound of
Everything X. Breaking the barriers of alternative rock and entering into the much deeper areas of the broad genre, Reckoner have changed their old "raw and pop" sound to a cooler and much more complex style fusing rock with other genres such as jazz, avant Warde, and electronic music. The band have been criticized by famous music critic
Linda Fea for incorporating jazz into their music stating that it was an attempt to "make themselves sound sophisticated and respected". Troy later rebutted the statement stating that he convinced the band to incorporate some jazz music into the new album to make it a tribute for his grandfather who had just turned 75. This track by track review would look at the album in a non biased way and will really determine the true criticisms the album would deserve.
1.Headshrinker(3:41)
-Headshrinker serves as a great opening track for the album. This "left over"(considering that it was written in the Backstabber sessions and was supposed to be included in the album, only to be replaced by Lock N'Load in the recording process) features a more gritty and raw pop sound than the rest of the tracks and has to be the closest resemblance of Reckoner's previous albums. It builds up on a distorted guitar riff sample with JPC using loads of distortion on his bass to keep up with the others. The best part of the song would have to be the lyrics. Troy sings his heart out about his experience in a drug rehabilitation center and how he regrets doing drugs at all, a great message to all teenagers out there coming from a man who has been on that road. The man is no hypocrite since he doesn't look like a drug user anymore, he looks pretty fit actually. Back on topic, this song is more appealing to the old fans since this would be a great preparation for the much more unconventional sounds of the later tracks, moving on.
2.ThoughtPolice(4:10)
-The next track ThoughtPolice, is a smooth sailing experimental song, with lyrics obviously talking about the Thought Police(read Nineteen Eighty-Four, to lazy to explain). It starts off with a haunting piano melody accompanied by some soft yet eerie sounding vocals followed by a slightly distorted bass and slow pounding drums, focusing on the bass drum, tom toms, and continuous hitting of the cymbals. Carl starts playing with his effects pedal playing some random tunes on his guitar but still does not dominate over the piano. No need to comment on Troy's singing, it was emotional... as always. The part I love the most would have to be the outro where Troy's voice would echo as the noise would gradually increase anding in a messy and hard hitting way. This song deserves praise since most bands shifting to experimental music usually sound awkward, this song doesn't sound awkward at all. Though it is experimental, to an average listener it can be found on the borderline of mainstream pop music(it is quite a catchy song) and indie rock(experimetnal).
3.The Futurist(3:13)
-Every album has to have a disappointing track, this might work well for this album. Well there is no such thing as the perfect band so we can go bashing on about this song. We would like torecognize the hard work the band have placed in this song, but it was awfully boring in our opinion. The slow beat and jazz guitars are just not fitting to the sound of the album, Linda Fea might have been right with her statement, this is truly disappointing. We still appreciate the lyrics of the song talking about Futurism and their thoughts on what our future would likely be with all the chaos and destruction in the world, we just wished that the song would be more uplifting.
Depressing Lyrics+Depressing Instrumentals=BORING SONG..
4.Underground City Blues(2:50)
-The shortest track on the album(JC stated that they were influenced by the length of Beatles' Tracks at the time and thought of making one short song just for fun) is more uplifting than the previous track. It is named underground city blues but it is more of a blues/jazz song. It features some quick drum beats with a smooth and clean bassline followed by JC playing some blues scales with Carl playing some lively blues chords. Troy uses the scat singing technique and I may I say, he is good at it. This track also features a brass section in its outro where all goes chaotic but still seems pleasing to the ear, not successful with the messy aim Troy! Overall this song has to be the better of the two jazz influenced songs, more uplifting and more everything fits perfectly. Great job with the jazz!
5.Oxygen Thief(5:09)
-A truly haunting song, Oxygen Thief stands out to be the most outstanding track of the album.(Catalyst Analyst really is the best of this album, but it was composed of five different songs so Oxygen Thief technically wins our votes!) Featuring a string orchestra playing this classically inspired melody played on the background, JPC with distorted bass, JC and Carl with slightly unaudible guitars, and Tristan with slow metallic sounding drums, this song surely would creep you out especially when Troy enters with his distorted vocals(Classical music+distortion+metallic drums=weirdly awesome track). Climax of the song would be the outro where JC and Carl's guitars get their deserved attention creating a chaotic sound with the string section, truly awesome. The lyrics are abstract but in our perspective has this lonely and claustrophobic meaning inside, scary enough with the distorted vocals. A creepy yet outstanding song, please release this as the next single!
6.Undivided(3:56)
-Like easy going songs? Are you a pop rock fan? Reckoner has just served you a whole meal with this easy listening psychedelic pop track called Undivided. This song is an answer to those critics who say that Reckoner is a strictly anti political band, that they do nothing but rant about the serious stuff in the world, or those who say that Troy Mascenon is just a depressed idiot who has the talent to write songs. Undivided is a truly beautiful song, looking at the lyrics it may seem just as a simple love song, but according to Mascenon the lyrics are much deeper than that. The song would most likely be compared to the song "Resistance" by Muse with lyrical concept since Undivided is a love song about two people torn apart by their surroundings. It is also described as a positive side of Winston and Julia's situation. The song is most outstanding for its instrumentals, JC playing three instruments (ondes Martenot and 2 xylophones) Carl and JPC keeping their instruments light, and Tristan playing some military like drumbeats. Troy plays the acoustic guitar and finally sings somewhere far from his head voice, and I must say his voice is dang sexy when it is not that high, Carl also provides some echoing back up vocals to add to the dreamy and psychedelic feel of the song. Just beautiful.
7.She Screams Bullets(4:07)
-Another proof of Reckoner's nonsense. She Screams Bullets is a fairly good, fairly disappointing song or what I like to call, a 50/50 track. As I see it, it looks inspired by Oasis and some rough and fast blues/country sounding riffs. But don't underestimate it, it can be a good song too. The highlights of the song would have to be Tristan's drumming(excellent in keeping time while having some rowdy beats), JC and Carl's riffs(might sound country-ish but the speed and licks are pretty OK) and JPC's bass (the bass sliding up and down is fucking Flea!) however, the bad part about it is that Troy had this vocal crack in the middle of the song which was a bit disappointing considering that he naturally is a great vocalist, wonder why they didn't edit that part. Also a downside was Troy's attempt to make a growl, it just didn't appeal much to me so sorry. Lyrics about a woman's anger and how powerful she can be is good, it's nice to see some men to bow down to a woman.. Heehee!
8.Catalyst Analyst(8:49)
-The famed lead single from Everything X. This song has to be the most brilliant and experimental alternative rock song ever. Who would have thought that tribal drums, harmonicas, lots of distortion, synthesizers, and electronic drum beats would fit perfectly for one song? Thom Yorke--and Regan Futrell! Yes it was Regan's idea to put together 5 different songs and merge them into one huge record. I have nothing to comment on this song, it's pure genius put into music. This is the turning point of the band, they have reached the ultimate climax in songwriting, lets just hope that they keep the momentum consistent.
9.I Am Nowhere(3:21)
-The only instrumental of the album, I Am Nowhere starts off with a slow keyboard vamp. The song progresses with electronic drumbeats, a distorted bass line, and a slightly inaudible sound of a tremolo picked guitar. The sound goes on and on, later on being layered by the same instruments going up by one semi-tone. This song sounds a bit "trying hard" to sound electronic, though I have to admit that the song is pretty hypnotic, though the song still gets a pretty low rating for its ending, where all the instruments just fade away, that didn't have enough impact. This song along with The Futurist are the bad songs from the album, but don't be afraid Reckoner fans, the last one isn't going to be bad!(we hope)
10.The Last Letters(5:25)
-After a disappointing ninth track, we are glad to announce that the final song is epic! Yes The Last Letters is one of the finest songs in the album. The song is dominated by Troy who is heard singing alone with his grand piano. The rest of the band are fairly quiet throughout the first half of the song. JC and JPC team up to create the atmosphere of the song through their synthesizers(with JC playing a Martenot while JPC plays the Theremin) while Carl plays around with a sample of his voice using the Kaoss Pad. Tristan would later join in with some quick cymbal hitting while the song gradually gets faster. The middle eight reaches the climax of the song where JPC starts to play some bass and Carl starts to play a distorted guitar. Troy's voice goes ascends from a low A2(the intro) up to A5(middle eight falsetto) showing Troy's incredible vocal range. The song descends quickly with the spacey sound of the synths slowly fading away with the piano melody. The song is truly amazing and makes up for I Am Nowhere so this song would affect the overall rating very much.
Overall
The album had its flaws and had its glory, but all albums have to have their ups and downs. Best songs on the album would have to be Catalyst Analyst,The Last Letters, and ThoughtPolice respectively while the worst was The Futurist, seriously. The album doesn't sound gimmicky at all, as proposed by Linda Fea, it's as if Reckoner was born to make this kind of music. Advice to first timers, if you consider buying this album, give it atleast 30 percent of your listening time and we guarantee you that it will grow on you like crazy. Great album!
Rating:4.6/5
Edited by user 30 August 2010 01:32:26(UTC)
| Reason: Not specified
