Hurt - Vol. II
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Free Music Notes for Vol. II
Free Music Review: "There's no more beauty in this world..."
Hit: 5 Stars
Frontman J. Loren utters the above quote in the song "Alone with the Sea", but ironically this album proves that statement wrong. With "Vol. 2", the followup to their fantastic debut album, Hurt have only gotten better. Their stylish blend of emotionally powerful and musically sophisticated hard rock really separates these guys from the herd. The great thing about this album is that they have expanded and developed their sound, playing up the progressive elements of their music a bit more, while still retaining all of the raw emotional earnesty displayed before.
"Summers Lost" begins quiet and plaintive, slowly and subtly building up by the end. "Ten Ton Brick" and "Loded" are jagged, heavy, and angry, while "Aftermath" and "Better" are contrastingly wistful and subdued. "Et Al" and "Abuse of Sid" are stellar melodic hard rock tunes, and "Assurance" and "Alone with the Sea" are stunning acoustic ballads that perfectly showcase Loren's incredible voice (and the latter contains the coolest use of banjo in a rock song since Porcupine Tree's "Trains"). "Talking to God" is where some of the more progressive leanings come into play, with its myriad time changes, nifty drum work, and a gospel sounding choir that comes in almost out of nowhere. Furthermore, the lyrics make a nice companion to the previous album's "Rapture", once again brilliantly lambasting the hypocrisies of Christianity.
The album ends with "Thank You for Listening", which is similarly epic and huge, with Loren's soaring vocal delivery, and a massive guitar solo that brings the glory days of Pearl Jam or Temple of the Dog to mind. A powerful closer to a fantastic album. If there's one thing to complain about here, as opposed to the first album, it's that the violin is perhaps not quite as pronounced as before. Still plenty of it in there though (like the sweet solo spot in "On the Radio", backed brilliantly by Evan's jazzy drumming), and hey, how much violin do you really need on a hard rock album anyway?
All in all, this album doesn't disappoint. Sure, the band may not be so great at coming up with album titles (will there be a "Hurt Vol. 12" one day?), but when it comes to great music, they've got it in spades. Hurt is shaping up to be one of the best rock bands to come around in a while. I'm definitely looking forward to..."Vol. 3"? Or uh, whatever they come up with next. :)
Oh, and also, the singer wears a cool hat that gives him a completely different look from what you might expect just going by his voice. And that is awesome.
Free Music Review: Hurt- Vol. II- Genius Monster of an album
Hit: 5 Stars
I want to keep this short. I can only think of two albums released over the last 10 years that I would say are as good as Vol. II. I can think of no greater praise for it.
I cannot honestly recall having been so impacted from a rock album as I have from Hurt- Vol. II. I probably sound crazy, but when you listen to it, the album sounds almost alive. It just grabs a hold of you, and I almost laugh at myself, because even if I find myself wanting to turn off the CD player, just to get out of the car or something, I hear a song from this album, and I just can't do it. Moreover, the album is so incredibly diverse. If someone can honestly point out to me better rock songs than 10 ton Brick, Better, Abuse of Sid(just amazing), Talking to god, Assurance,and Alone with the Sea, I invite you to do so. I don't any such songs exist.
The album is so diverse, the vocals are phenomenal. It's hard as nails, acoustic, classical, amotional, grooves incredibly. Vol. II grabs you like a ten ton freight train, and simply will not let you go. Then again, you don't even want it to, once you pop it in the CD player.
PLEASE, PLEASE do yourselves a favor and buy this album.
Free Music Review: Volume II > Volume I
Hit: 5 Stars
J. Loren and crew have definitely come out of their shell with the release of their sophomore record "Volume II." What exactly makes it better than Volume I? Well, how about much tighter sound, better controlled atmosphere, and maturity?
The sound of Vol 2 is just plain good, in a hit-or-miss kind of way. I believe people are mislead by "Ten Ton Brick" and assume that the rest of the album is going to sound exactly like it, which it does not. Most of the songs are not as hard instrumentally as TTB but are definitely as good. You just have to have an open mind to music. Actually listen to the music while you listen to the singer. The lyrics are dark, yes, the music perhaps darker. This is not your dad's 80's metal.
There are a couple songs worth noting that may appeal to the fans of Brick though, including "Summers Lost," and "Talking To God" for instance. Summers Lost starts slowly and mysteriously if you will, but eventually escalates into a blaze of vocal glory and uplifting (or perhaps depressing?) guitar work. Talking To God is, as I note later, a pseudo-sequel to a Volume I song. I find this song to be one of the better ones on Volume II. Loren's lyrics leave much to be interpreted here..."how can you talk to God when you won't talk to me?" The initial drum beat towards the beginning of the song compliment it well before it launches into what feels like an insulted tone.
Overall the experience is one worth listening through at least once, so long as you don't dive headlong into it expecting consistent double bass drums or screaming guitars. The matured sound of Hurt is apparent here, and it will be interesting to see if they can maintain their maturity and perhaps even nail that 5-star record on the next run through the studio.
*Side Note* For anyone considering purchasing Volume II who have not listened to Volume I, I highly recommend you listen to Volume I first, despite how much of an improvement V2 is. Volume II contains no less than 4 tracks that have to do with the continuation of the "story" from Volume I, and even very obvious sounds/references to Volume I (listen to the intro to "Talking To God" from Volume II and you'll recognize the notes from a Volume I song).
Free Music Review: Ten Ton Brick Deceives...
Hit: 2 Stars
Just short and sweet. Only reason I looked into this band is because of the radio play of "Ten Ton Brick". Fantastic hard edged song. Loved it and immediately went and bought the album. Big mistake. I was expecting a hard rock band with good pace and well placed harmonies. This CD is nothing like that. Predominantly softer attempts at being deep. Just not well done in my opinion. Way too much silence and solitary strings for my taste.
If you loved the single like I do, go out and buy off iTunes or something. Don't get the album cause "Ten Ton Brick" is an island of a song surrounded by soft, abstract rock with some heavyness sprinkled here and there. Just really deceptive and made me buy the CD hoping for more of what I liked. Turns out I was way off.
Free Music Review: simply delicious
Hit: 5 Stars
I have never purchased vol 1, i only own vol 2 since i came across this album while sampling others here on amazon. Too me this album is a perfect mix of a perfect circle and flaw. if you like both those band, then your in for a treat. There are many moments in this album filled with a exhausted expression of anger and bitterness. The mood of most songs will leave you sitting back letting out a big sigh filled with the thought of your life and "how did things get so ****ing messed up"--which is a great thing as odd as that sounds. The cd slows you down and puts you in that weird yet satisfying place.
or that could just be me ;)
musically its very slow with some well planed climaxes that dont just seen like generic "its time to rock now" formula. all climaxes further enhance the mood of the song.
if any of this postmakes sense to you, give this album a try and let me know how it goes