If you’ve longed for the passionate rock of Underoath but longed for a chance to understand lyrics as they were sung, then Aaron Gillespie’s side project-turned-star project The Almost might just be the thing for you.
Kicking off their latest album Monster Monster with the title track, the band launches into an assault on your eardrums, with crashing drums and driving guitar play. “Lonely Wheel” is no less daring in its all-out instrumentals, but it slows the beat down for listeners who need a break from the opening salvo, singing about relinquishing control to the other. Given that Gillespie is both recently married and a Christian, your guesses about who he’s giving control to (the wife, or God) are as good as mine. Either way, the writing works, and the beats are better than average.
Harmonization, soaring vocals, power ballad. All of this is true of “No I Don’t,” and it’s a side-stepping of what you might expect from a band drenched in alternative and metal. “Hands” shakes it up completely. I couldn’t help but think of Jimmy Eat World or Cartel and that’s not bad company to be in when you’re rocking the alternative world. There’s less defiance and less boldness here than in those other two bands, but “Young Again” has a certain introspection on the passing of time that makes the song as passionate as the driving drums.
The band seems stuck on double names, as they bounce into “Summer Summer” with a lighter touch, before the shockingly mellow “Hand Grenade” doesn’t detonate, but rather bounces around in an alt-country routine. Did I mention double names? “Books & Books” brings the edgier, more metallic side back, before seguing into a lighter “Souls on Ten,” a driving-around kind of song. It’s fun and very Bon Jovi-ish. I thought it was one of the most radio-friendly, and certainly has enough of different vibes to appeal to listeners across genre barriers.
“Want To” gets back to the more expected style, even if it’s a little angrier, a little more of a barrage again. It’s funny, but the band has hit different highs and lows, and certainly covered the space in between. “Get Through” almost closes it out on the hardest-rocking note of them all, but then the real closer, the singular “Monster,” starts in the southern, alt country realm and gradually migrates into metal territory. If the album itself covered the spectrum, then the closer nearly covers it all by itself.
I have to admit that I liked Southern Weather but Monster Monster has a bit of everything… for each of my moods.
