Earshot – The Silver Lining
Posted on August 29, 2008 at 10:48 pm by admin
I like to think I can put myself into the shoes of reviewers and audiences that listen to much more popular music than I do, but it can very tough at times. On the other, I think I’ve gone pretty easy on most radio rock, probably being a lot nicer when I should’ve absolutely beaten the living daylights out of an album.
This brings me back to this radio rock album by Earshot. It’s funny how a title like “The Silver Lining” and songs like “Don’t Hate me”, “I Hate you”, “Closer”, “Beside Myself”, “Mis(s)understood” and “Where the Pain Begins” suggest this is a trip to cliche city. If that’s your assumption, then to be quite honest, you’re right on the money. I will stick a “however” in to say it’s at least decently executed, and a surprisingly diverse album. There’s quick bursts, mid-paced movers, ballads, and slow jammers that are pretty heavy – well, for glossy radio rock anyway. The diversity also comes off the guitars, moving between chord up’s n’ down’s to some riff running, and even a few moments that harkened back to early alternative and grunge bands. There’s even a bit of emotion that drips off in tiny doses, especially when the vocalist attempts to go for some harsh yelling in “I Hate you”, or when you could swear the band is beating up on their guitars. Unfortunately, the emotion gets sucked out by the super-clean production, robot tight playing, and the by-the-book execution which as well done as it is, has all been done before.
Perhaps if I wrote for a rock magazine that dealt with huge releases, I’d be eying a 3.5 out of 5 for this one, but the underground music man I am knows that there’s very few bands that come my way expressing the real, raw gritty truth about rock n’ roll (which ain’t rock stardom) that displays the real emotion, played by real working Joes who have to go back to real jobs, etc. Is this “real” rock n’ roll? No, it’s a pretty looking radio product all around, but one I still had some enjoyment listening too, and a 3 out of 5 is still pretty darn good.
Released August 26th, 2008
Buy this album at Amazon.com and Amazon.ca
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