Their press release boldly states that the band play songs to salve a wounded world. Their ambition is to help restore faith to humanity oppressed by economic meltdown and fearful of an uncertain future. Ambitious stuff, therefore, for a four-piece rock band.
Amongst that rather bold rhetoric, Needtobreathe release their fourth studio album The Reckoning. With it comes a broad scope of styles of songs, all still retaining the popular, ever so angst riddled Americana that have served the likes of the Kings of Leon and Black Keys so well in the past decade.
At fourteen tracks long, there is certainly a lot of bang for your buck. Not only does the sheer number of songs feel altogether worthwhile, there are plucky amounts of variance thrown in there.
From opener ‘Oohs and Aahs’ and its thunderous introduction to the album amidst screaming vocals, thrashing drums and a wall of resonated guitar that can put you on your back. To the more sedate ‘Drive All Night’ and ‘Able’, the latter of which is an acoustic, softly spoken ballad that would fit perfectly amidst a Springsteen set.
For all the variance, and there is a lot of that no denying, there still feels like there is something amiss. Needtobreathe have the image, the sound and above all the financial backing and clout of a major label to justify their successes to date. Yet it all feels familiar and somehow old hat.
Not quite the teen idols of the Kings of Leon or The Killers and somehow not long in the tooth enough to be considered world weary by The Boss’ standards. Needtobreathe find themselves stuck in a musical purgatory that places them firmly between student campus, acoustic guitar beneath a tree douche-baggery and a credible act forging their names into the annals of bitter/sweet Americana pop.
This betwixt nature is self evident throughout the whole of The Reckoning and the back catalogue of the band as a whole. However, there is still something wonderfully enjoyable about the work and most definitely a listenable factor that oozes from them.
It may not set iTunes on fire with originality and it certainly does not have the legs to become an all out classic. But that seems to be okay, both for the band, and their fans. The Reckoning is a fine album for the oncoming autumn and should be enjoyed as much and nothing more.
