Artist Of The Week - Anchor & Braille
It's been about three years since we've gotten an album from Anchor & Braille, the indie side project of Anberlin's Stephen Christian, but this week, on July 31st, the band's sophomore album will be released. The Quiet Life is a collection of haunting melodies and catchy percussion, certainly a maturation of sound since 2009's Felt. The Quiet Life is available now in stores and online through Tooth & Nail Records.
Admin
Christian Rock Rocks - Copyright 2012. Powered by Blogger.
Archive
-
▼
2011
(271)
-
▼
October
(26)
- sosaveme - The Garden
- Levi The Poet Joins Come&Live!
- From Indian Lakes Acoustic EP Available Now
- Mychildren Mybride Post New Studio Video
- Haste the Day - Haste the Day vs. Haste the Day (D...
- Not Dying Out Anytime Soon: An Interview with A Pl...
- Close Your Eyes Release "Valleys" Video
- Immortal Souls - IV: The Requiem for the Art of Death
- Blessed By A Broken Heart Unleash "Deathwish" For ...
- Check Out: Ryan Shelley
- Stream John Mark McMillan's Economy
- Your Memorial to Headline the Hope For The Nations...
- Saving Grace Pre-Orders and New Song
- Blessthefall - Awakening
- Switchfoot - Vice Verses
- Leaders Post 4 Song Demo for Free Download
- A Plea For Purging Post "room for the dead"
- Oh, Sleeper - Children of Fire
- Get Deas Vail's New Album At Amazon A Day Early
- Mat Kearney Daytrotter Session
- House of Heroes Debut "Lovesick Zombie"
- Abandon Kansas Debut "Like It Or Not" Video
- Holding Onto Hope Track-By-Track
- The Life and Tour of A Plea For Purging
- Check Out: Sinai Vessel
- Passionate Hope Vol. 1 Free Download
-
▼
October
(26)
Search
Like CRR on Facebook
Album: Vice Verses
Release Date: September 27, 2011
Label: lowercase people records
It’s amazing what independence can do for a band. Since forming their own label, lowercase people, Switchfoot released the Grammy award winning Hello Hurricane in 2009, and just released what many people are considering its companion album, Vice Verses. Whilst recording their previous album the band mentioned they had four albums worth of music, they wanted to release. Instead they went back into the studio and recorded their eighth studio album, and focused on each individual song until it was what they considered perfect.
Vice Verses is more of a drum/bass driven album than Hello Hurricane, but at the same time it contains the overall vibe from that album. It’s refreshing to see such a huge band like Switchfoot not make the same album over and over again. Where Hello Hurricane was more laid back on most tracks, Vice Verses is the opposite, it’s more of a rock album with brief breaks for the Switchfoot staple softer song. You get both sides of what the band has become in recent years, and then they throw you a curveball. The band experiments with some Beck vibes on songs like “The War Within” and especially the super-raw, amazing song “Selling the News”. The music on Vice Verses is quite diverse and possibly some of the best playing I’ve heard from the band in their fifteen year career. From the opening riffs of “Afterlife” you know you’re in for a big rock song. The song takes on an almost Bon Jovi-esque stadium rock feel, it’s just such a big sounding song. The next song takes on a more upbeat tone to it with awesome musicality, and another dimension of Jon’s vocals. From the opening of the third track, you know this song is going to be like nothing you’ve heard from the band, and it really shows off the focus on the rhythm section of the band. It’s also one of the strongest tracks on the album. ”Blinding Light” starts off with this funky little riff and then it disappears and shows up a few other sections of the song, but the song turns out to be a soft song that reminds of The Fray meets One Republic. Then comes the climax of the album, the track “Selling the News”, on this track the band experiments with those Beck sounds, and they nail it! The song is probably the best Switchfoot song I’ve heard, and sure to be one fans talk about for years to come. Most of the rest of the album settles into the Hello Hurricane sound with the softer songs, with the exception of the lead single “Dark Horses” which a radio-friendly mainstream song, not that that’s a bad thing, but for once the lead single isn’t the strongest/best song on the album.
What can you say about Jon Foreman’s vocals after all these years, they’re always about the same right? Wrong! Granted many of the songs, feature the vocal style we’ve all come accustomed to with the band, but there are several songs where he pushes the boundaries of what he can do with is voice, and almost every time it pays off. “Selling the News” features Jon almost rapping his lyrics, which may be some of the most powerful I’ve heard, his voice is just so raw with the emotions he’s conveying through the lyrics. It’s simply amazing. He kind of does the same on “The War Within” which features a vocal style which is hard to explain, other than just listen to it, and you’ll love it. As far as lyrics go they’re what you’d expect from the band. They’re good but nothing really spectacular. There are however some lines that really stick out to me, for example the opening song “Afterlife” has the lines “I've tasted fire/I'm ready to come alive/I can't just shut it up and fake that I'm alright /I'm ready now /I'm not waiting for the afterlife”. I love how it’s basically saying that there is no better time to make right with God and accept Him as he accepts us, don’t wait until it’s too late. Don’t wait until the afterlife. The lyrics of the entire song “Selling the News” really speak to me with the raw emotion, and critique of what America has really become but the one line that really hit me like a ton of bricks is “suspicion is the new religion”, because a lot of Americans have become like that during recent times and events.
Overall: I didn’t think Switchfoot could do better than Hello Hurricane, and I’m still not 100% sold that this album is better than that album, but is definitely tied at least. If you put Hello Hurricane and Vice Verses together you have a masterpiece. The more I listen to the album the more I fall in love with it as a whole. The focus on the bass/drum section is refreshing and makes for a very good and solid rock album. The experimentation with some other vocal styles was a very welcome aspect of the album, not only did the band try something new but they blew it out of the water. The lyrics for the most part are ok, but there are some exceptions like I said. “Selling the News” should go down in history as the best Switchfoot song of all-time. Vice Verses will absolutely make several apperences in my CD player, as well as a much deserved place on my top albums of 2011. Do yourself a favor, and go buy both Hello Hurricane and this new album, Vice Verses because they’re the perfect compliments to each other.
Rating: 8/10
Recommended Tracks: "Afterlife", "The War Within", "Selling the News", and "Dark Horses"
Reviewed by: Michael Small
Tracklisting:
About the Author
Related Posts
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Popular Posts
-
Artist: Icon For Hire Album: Scripted Release Date: August 23, 2011 Label: Tooth & Nail Records Take Paramore, Fireflight, and Fl...
-
With 2011 coming to an end, it's hard not to think about how amazing this year has been with music. Though mostly good there were so...
-
In July of 2009, I started Christian Rock Rocks as an outlet to review good Christian music, if that term even holds any true value anymor...
-
Ever-changing and always unpredictable, Showbread has spent more than a decade rowing against the current of music industry standards and...
-
Artist: Sovereign Strength Album: The Prophecy Release Date: August 2, 2011 Label: Mediaskare Records Sovereign Strength are one of t...
-
Call To Preserve have been a long time member of the Facedown Family, so it is sad for us to report that CTP have announced that they are ...
-
Artist: Trip Lee Album: Between Two Worlds Release Date: 6/22/10 Label: Reach Records I'll go ahead and blatantly say that I am ...
-
Artist: Fee Album: Hope Rising Release Date: October 6, 2009 Label: INO Records Fee debuted in 2007 with their 1st major label record ...
-
The Classic Crime's "PHOENIX" Charts on Billboard and iTunes SEATTLE, WA - What a difference a few months make. Not lon...
-
Artist: A White Flag Album: The Exchange EP Release Date: August 24, 2011 Label: Come&Live! What happens when one of the hardcore...
Labels
- 2011
- 2012
- A Beautiful Exchange
- A Bullet For Pretty Boy
- A Current Affair
- A Feast For Crows
- A Hope For Home
- A Past Unknown
- A Pattern in Pain
- A Plea For Purging
- A Sequence of Ghosts
- A Storm Coming
- A Thousand Angry Panthers
- A White Flag
- Aaron Bridgewater
- Aaron Gillespie
- Aaron Newberry
- Abandon Kansas
- Abba Father
- Abel
- Able Bodies
- Ace Augustine
- Achor
- Ad Astra Per Aspera
- Adam Young
- Addison Road
- Adie
- Advent
- Advent Christmas EP
- Ain't No Grave Records
- Album Previews
- Album Reviews
- All Things Bright and Beautiful
- Altars
- Alternative Press
- An Airplane Carried Me To Bed
- Anberlin
- Anchor and Braille
- Andrew Schwab
- Andy Atkins
- Anthem Song
- Anthems
- Applejaxx
- Aradhna
- Ark of the Covenant
- Armored Heart
- As Hell Retreats
- As I Lay Dying
- As They Sleep
- Ascend The Hill
- Atonement
- Attack Of The Wolf King
- Attalus
- August Burns Red
- australia
- Awakening
- Baptized In Filth
- Beautiful Eulogy
- Becoming The Archetype
- Before Their Eyes
- Bellarive
- Ben Crist
- Between Two Worlds
- Black Thorn
- blackest darkness
- Blake Martin
- Blessed By A Broken Heart
- Blessthefall
- Blindside
- Blood and Ink Records
- Blood and Water
- Blood In The Gears
- Bloodlines
- bloodsport
- Born Again
- Born To Lose
- Bradley Hathaway
- Braille
- Breaker
- Broken Circles Records
- Broken Voice
- Bryce Avary
- Bury Me Alive
- Call To Preserve
- Called To Arms
- Cancer
- Capital Lights
- Captors
- Cardboard Kids
- Celestial Completion
- Challenger
- Charmaine
- Chasen
- Children 18:3
- Children of Fire
- Chris Dudley
- Christian Rock Rocks
- Close Your Eyes
- Cold Hard Want
- Colombia
- Come and Live
- Community Group
- Concert Reviews
- Conclusions
- Conditions
- Confide
- Contest
- Conversations with Fallen Saints
- Convicted
- Cool Hand Luke
- Cornerstone Festival
- Corpus Christi
- Costs
- Courtland Urbano
- Cover Your Eyes
- Crazy Love
- Creations
- Crowns
- CRR
- Ctrl
- Dan Smith
- Dark Is The Way
- Dark Words on Dark Wings
- Dave Barnes
- Dead Man
- Dead Man Walking
- Dead Throne
- deadboy records
- Deas Vail
- death before
- Deathwish
- Debtor
- Decrease/Increase
- Deep Space
- Demon Hunter
- Dependency
- Derek Webb
- Dharti
- Dinner and A Suit
- Disambiguation
- Disciple
- Dissimulation
- Distance
- Divide The Sea
- Divided By Friday
- DIYTOURING
- Down With the Ship
- Dustin Kensrue
- Dynasty
- Easter
- Economy
- Editorial
- Eisley
- Emergency
- Emery
- Empires
- Empty Hands and Heavy Hearts
- End of the Year
- EP
- Epilogue
- Equal Vision Records
- Eric Martin
- Eternal
- Evening Lights
- Everything You've Been Looking For
- Excellent
- Exclusive
- Exhumed
- Exiled Music Press
- Exiting The Fall
- Eyes Wide Open
- Facedown Fest
- Facedown Records
- Falling Up
- Fallstar
- Family Force 5
- Farewell Flight
- Feature
- Feedback
- Feel The Power
- Fever
- Find Your Worth Come Home
- Finger Painting
- Fini
- Fire Walk With Me
- Flatfoot 56
- FM Static
- For Today
- Forever Ended Yesterday
- Fragile
- Free Downloads
- Free Music
- Free Sampler
- Friends
- From Indian Lakes
- Future Fears
- Future of Forestry
- Gage Speas
- Gentle Slope
- Get On Outta Here
- Gideon
- Give Me Rest
- Giveaway
- God of Nothing
- Golden Youth
- Gotee Records
- Grace Disguised By Darkness
- Grave Robber
- Great Awakening
- Greeley Estates
- Grievances
- Hands
- Hanging On By A Thread
- Happy Christmas
- Hardcore
- Harp and Lyre
- Haste The Day
- Haste The Day Vs. Haste The Day
- hatebreed
- Hawk Nelson
- Hawkboy
- Hayley Williams
- Heath McNease
- Heavy Worship
- Hello Hurricane
- HelloSomebody
- Hiatus
- Hillsong Live
- Hip Hop
- Hivemind
- HM Magazine
- Holding Onto Hope
- Home
- Home Is Calling
- Honor The Emperor
- Hope For The Dying
- Horseshoes and Handgrenades
- Hostages
- House Of Heroes
- Humble Beast
- Hundredth
- Hyland
- I Am Empire
- I Am The Lion
- I The Breather
- I've Lost All Faith In Myself
- Icon For Hire
- III
- III EP
- iMatter Festival
- Immortal
- Immortal Souls
- Impending Doom
- in
- In Abstraction
- In Character
- In The Midst Of Lions
- Independent
- Indie
- Indie Picks
- Indie Vision Music
- Inhale Exhale
- Internal Cannon
- Interviews
- Into The Maelstrom
- IV
- Ivoryline
- Jackson Greene
- Jake Germany
- Jarrod Christman
- Jawbone
- Jaymes Reunion
- Je Suis
- Jeremy Steckel
- Jesus High
- Jimmy Needham
- Joe Lengson
- Joel Piper
- John Mark McMillan
- John Reuben
- Jonathan Jones
- Josh Dies
- Josh Garrels
- Josh White
- Just You and Me
- K is for Karaoke
- Keep Quiet
- Kickstarter
- Kingdom Days In An Evil Age
- Kingdoms
- Kings
- Kristie MacDonald
- Kye Kye
- La Dispute
- Labor Pains
- Lakes
- Lawless
- Leaders
- Leagues
- Lecrae
- Leftover
- Legacy
- Lesser Man
- Lesser Men
- Let Go
- Let Love Win
- Letter to the Exiles
- Leveler
- Levi The Poet
- Life In Your Way
- Life Is Just A Dream
- Life of Defiance
- Life Scars Apologies
- Life Will Write The Words
- Light Is A Place
- Listener
- Living Sacrifice
- Long Live
- Lost Boy
- Lost Weekend
- Love and War and The Sea In Between
- Love Reality
- Lovesick Zombie
- Lower
- madball
- Major/Minor
- Make Amends
- Make It Right
- Make Us One
- Manafest
- March
- Mark Nicks
- Marksmen
- Mars Hill Music
- Mat Kearney
- Matriarch
- Matt and Toby
- Matt MacDonald
- Mattie Montgomery
- Mean What You Say
- Mediaskare Records
- Memphis May Fire
- MercyMe
- Meridional
- Messengers
- mewithoutYou
- Mono vs Stereo
- Monoculture
- Monologues
- Movie Reviews
- Moving Mountains
- My Brain Says Stop But My Heart Says Go
- My Devil In Your Eyes
- My Epic
- My Heart To Fear
- My Horses Are Many
- Mychildren Mybride
- Myself Letting Go
- Naked and Cold
- New Album
- New Zealand
- News
- News from Verona
- Newsboys
- Newworldson
- Nightlights
- No Direction
- Noisetrade
- Norma Jean
- Nothing Til Blood
- Now We Are Free
- O Ransomed Son
- O'Brother
- OC Supertones
- Ocean In Theory
- Oceans and Vessels
- Odd Thomas
- Of Man
- Oh Sleeper
- On The Run
- On Wings of Integrity Pt II
- Once A Year
- One Reality
- One Wing
- Onward To Olympas
- Opposition
- Our Graceful Words
- Out For Blood
- Over The Hills and Everywhere
- Overcome
- Owen Pye
- Owl City
- Paper Route
- Parables
- Paramore
- Payola
- Pendulum
- Peril And The Patient
- Phinehas
- Phoenix
- pioneer
- pioneer the band
- Poema
- Post Tenebras Lux
- Pre Order
- Preson Phillips
- Project 86
- Propaganda
- Purple Door Festival
- Queens Club
- Quiet Science
- Rain's A Comin'
- Rapture Ruckus
- Razor and Tie Records
- Reach Records
- Realis
- Recommendations
- Reconciler Refiner Igniter
- Red Cord Records
- Redeemer
- Redirect
- Regenerate Music Co
- Rehab
- Reinvention
- Rejoice the Awakening
- Relient k
- Religio-Cide
- Remix
- Restless
- Return to Life
- Reunite
- Revision:Revise
- Revival
- Rhythm 'N' Moves
- Righteous Vendetta
- Rise Records
- Robert Bloomfield
- Runaway City
- Ruth
- Ryan Blake Martin
- Ryan Shelley
- RYFO
- Sainthood Reps
- Sapna
- Satellite Kite
- Saving Grace
- Scream The Prayer
- Scripted
- Seabird
- Secret and Whisper
- Self-Titled
- Sent By Ravens
- Separation
- seventh day slumber
- Shadows
- Shane Raymond
- She'll Be Right
- Showbread
- Sights and Sounds
- Silverline
- Sinai Vessel
- Since October
- Sister of Mine
- Sixteen Cities
- Sky Sailing
- Sleep For Sleepers
- Sleeping At Last
- Sleeping Giant
- Sleeping In Parking Lots
- Slospeak Records
- So Good To Us
- Sobre Todo Nombre
- Soli Deo Gloria
- Solid State Records
- Some Kind of Cosmonaut
- Son of the Morning
- Song Stream
- Songs In Secret
- Sons
- Sons of God
- sosaveme
- Soulfest
- South Africa
- Sovereign Strength
- Sparrow Records
- Spoken
- Staff Blog
- Staff Picks
- Starflyer 59
- Stephen Keech
- Stories
- Strike First Records
- Suburba
- Summer Music Preview
- Summer Sampler
- Superchick
- Swimming With Dolphins
- switchfoot
- Syracuse
- Take It Back
- Tallhart
- Teenage Fantasy
- Ten Stories
- Terra Firma
- Texas In July
- That I May Love You
- That Was Then This Is Now
- The Absolute
- The Agreement
- The Almost
- the anthem of angels
- The Architects of Guilt
- The Best Of
- The Burial
- The Changing Of The Guard
- The Chariot
- The Chase
- The Cheval Glass
- The City Harmonic
- The Classic Crime
- The Color Morale
- The Crimson Armada
- The Current
- The Dawning
- The Death of Greeley Estates
- The Devil Wears Prada
- The Dream is Ended This is the Morning
- The Ember Days
- The Eminence Conference
- The Exchange EP
- The Famine
- The Frozen Ocean
- The Garden
- The Generous Mr. Lovewell
- The Glorious Unseen
- The Gospel
- The Great Campaign of Sabotage
- The Great Commission
- The Heart Of Man
- The Heartbeat
- The Hollow
- The Infinite Order
- The Joke That We Play On The World
- The Keys To Open Ancient Gates
- The King Is Coming
- The Letter Black
- The Life
- The Life and Death of A Plea For Purging
- The Man With Wooden Legs
- The Marriage Of Heaven And Hell
- The Medicine
- The Modern Post
- The Museum
- The O.C. Supertones
- The Old-Timers
- The Overseer
- The Peace of Wild Things
- The Phinehas EP
- The Powerless Rise
- The Prophecy
- The Quiet Life
- The Requiem For The Art of Death
- The Rider
- The River Empires
- The Rock Music
- The Rocket Summer
- The Showdown
- The Skies Revolt
- The Suit
- the tug fork river band
- The Valley
- The War Within Us
- The Water and The Well
- The Wedding
- The Weight of Glory
- The Winepress
- The Wishing Well
- The World Is A Thorn
- Theatre Breaks Loose
- thegodmachine
- There Will Be Violence
- These Are My Sins
- These Hearts
- Thoughts in Reverse
- Thrice
- Thrift Store Jesus
- Thumperpunk Records
- Tim Mann
- Tim Skipper
- To Speak Of Wolves
- To Those Perishing
- Tommy Green
- Tooth and Nail
- Top Albums
- Touch This Light
- Tour
- Tourantula
- Track by track
- Travel III
- Travesty
- treason
- Tribes
- Trip Lee
- True Defiance
- Truer Living With a Youthful Vengeance
- Underoath
- Untouchable
- Update
- Upon A Burning Body
- Vagabonds
- Validation
- Valleys
- Various Artists
- Veil Arms Clothing
- Venia
- Very Merry Christmas
- Vessels
- Vice Verses
- Victory Records
- Vocal Few
- Vol. 2
- Volition
- Vows
- vulture
- Wait For The Siren
- War Of Ages
- Warped Tour
- Water Colours
- We Are Creation
- We Are The Ones
- We Do What We Want
- We Search We Dig
- We Will Overcome
- Weathered Town
- Weight of the World
- Weights and Measures
- When It Rains It Pours
- When Lambs Become Lions
- Where The Ocean Meets The Sky
- White Collar Sideshow
- Who Can Know It?
- Windsor Drive
- With Life In Mind
- With Shivering Hearts We Wait
- Wolves at the Gate
- Wooden Heart
- Worship
- Wrath
- Wrench In The Works
- Write This Down
- xLooking Forwardx
- Yellow Belly
- Yet
- You and I
- Young Giant
- Young Love
- Your Memorial
- Your Sparkling Death Cometh
- Zao
- Zappin
- Zombie
0 comments