The Classic Crime - The Silver Cord
Release Date: July 22, 2008
Record Label: Tooth & Nail
The current Tooth and Nail roster is like a box of chocolates: you never know what you’re gonna get. You have labels that are consistently solid with their roster (Equal Vision) or consistently bad (Victory), but the music being played at the Nail is always hit or miss. Either you’ll discover a great band like Anberlin or you’ll hear a band desperately trying to sound like Anberlin (Search The City anyone?). What I’ve come to noticed is a lot of their current bands’ sound may be reminiscent of a band that was previously on the roster. Case in point The Classic Crime. Their aggressive blend of melodic rock will remind your ears of former bands The Juliana Theory and Further Seems Forever. There is a fine line between being inspired and plain ripping off, and the boys in The Classic Crime walk that line perfectly.
Their 2006 album, Albatross, was a solid debut; nothing too exciting but not a horrible piece of work. With the sophomore effort though, the Seattle quintet turned up the amps and turned off the light, as The Silver Chord (nicely produced by Michael “Elvis” Baskette (Incubus, Story of the Year)) is heavier and darker than their debut. Clocking in at almost an hour, the fifteen-track album is like journeying through a valley: there are plenty of highs and lows throughout.
What carries this album are Matt Macdonald’s vocals. They are gritty and melodic, and he can hit the notes when he needs to, as evident on “Just A Man,” as he flawlessly goes from a falsetto to a scream during the rising chorus. “Grave Digging” is very fast-paced catchy tune, featuring driving riffs from Justin DuQue and Robert Negrin. “The Way That You Are” may be the poppiest track, while “5805” comes across as an overdramatic ballroom dance song. Throughout the first half of the album, some songs catch you and others are instantly forgettable.
“Abracadavers” is my favorite track on the album as it starts with shredding yells from Macdonald and jittery riffs. The song drives with a purpose and doesn’t leave anything behind in its path. “R&R” slows down the album a bit and shows off the versatility in Macdonald’s voice. “God & Drugs” calls back and forth with deep piano keys followed by menacing guitar chords. The Silver Cord’s second half picks up the album, as it’s rounded out nicely by different vibes and paces. The final track, cleverly titled “The Beginning,” is the best song on the album, as it starts out gently and slowly builds up into a huge payoff, again showcasing Macdonald’s powerful vocals.
The biggest question about The Silver Cord is its replayability. It has a good handful of good tracks, with some poor tracks scattered in between, but with fifteen tracks and its lack of offering anything new or fresh to the listener, it may not get a lot of plays from the casual fan. Needless to say, if you’re into bands like Further Seem Forever and/or were a fan of Albatross, you’ll adore this. The vocals save this album from being completely forgettable. The Classic Crime are slowly progressing and are just a few steps away from creating something really special. Hopefully the third album will be the charm.
I personally enjoyed this quite a bit and have given it a few spins in the past week. The review and rating are spot on, though, except my reviewer tilt would have been higher. Nice job.
it's not a bad record by any means, but song structures and melodies are immature for a band on their sophomore record. i mean, the choruses on 5805 or the way that you are are stuff anyone could whip up in 10 minutes.
I think this album and this band have potential to be huge in the mainstream arena. I think it could be huge on rock radio. It crosses enough "rock" boundaries to get the attention of fans of many of the alternative rock subgenres.
I'm not saying this album sounds like the following bands (though I can find elements of their sounds on the album), but I could easily imagine this album pulling in thousands and thousands (if not millions) of fans of "scene" bands like Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Anberlin, Saosin, The All-American Rejects, Panic at the Disco, Further Seems Forever, Yellowcard, Story of the Year, etc...AND pull in fans of more straight forward radio rock bands like Nickelback, Trapt, and all that other stuff that I can't name because I don't listen to it. It could also pull in fans of bands like Switchfoot and a lot of the more positive energy type of bands (yes...I know that was a horrible description of Swichfoot. I love them, though!).
They put together an album that I could really see a lot of rock fans in general really getting behind. They have several potenially huge mainstream rock radio hits on this album.
Good call on the Further Seems Forever comparison. I hadn't thought about that at all. I definately hear it in some of the guitar parts. The song, Medisin, kind of sounds like Further Seems Forever, Thrice, and The Classic Crime had a threesome.
I LOVE THIS ALBUM. I think they are contending with and in many areas reaching a higher level than most of the bands playing similar music. ESPECIALLY in the vocals department.
they don't really remind me of fsf at all but i agree about the juliana theory. overall this album didn't grab me like albatross did but i'l still check it out.
I think this album and this band have potential to be huge in the mainstream arena. I think it could be huge on rock radio. It crosses enough "rock" boundaries to get the attention of fans of many of the alternative rock subgenres.
I'm not saying this album sounds like the following bands, but I could easily imagine this album pulling in thousands and thousands (if not millions) of fans of "scene" bands like Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Anberlin, The All-American Rejects, Panic at the Disco, Further Seems Forever, Yellowcard, Story of the Year, etc...AND pull in fans of more straight forward radio rock bands like Nickelback, Trapt, and all that other stuff that I can't name because I don't listen to it. It could also pull in fans of bands like Switchfoot and a lot of the more positive energy type of bands.
They put together an album that I could really see a lot of rock fans in general really getting behind. They have several potenially huge mainstream rock radio hits on this album.
Good call on the Further Seems Forever comparison. I hadn't thought about that at all. I definately hear it in some of the guitar parts. The song, Medisin, kind of sounds like Further Seems Forever, Thrice, and The Classic Crime had a threesome.
I LOVE THIS ALBUM. I think they are contending with and in many areas reaching a higher level than most of the bands playing similar music. ESPECIALLY in the vocals department.
I was just thinking that they should maybe hit the road with a Chevelle or Trapt, or some other popular mainstream rock band to pull in some fans.
well, i'm a big Juliana Theory fan, so, i kinda disagree with that...
and, I haven't listened to this whole album yet, but, it seems a lot better than Albatross, imo (i thought there were a FEW good songs on that album... and, the lyrics weren't terribly good, imo)
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