Relient K Hits Gold and Oil In The Same Album

Relient K axed its old image and created a new one, minus a guitarist, plus two, bringing the lineup to five. Gone are the direct mentions of God, opting to design lyrics to mean either God, or a girl, depending on what you figured it. Most of Relient K’s core fans saw the move as a sell out and a desertion of the band’s roots. Departed are the pop culture references and in with themes of girls, breakups, forgiveness, and reconciliation. Most noticeable though, is the band’s shift to more punk and hard rock.

This time the highlight is “The Only Thing Worse than Beating a Dead Horse Is Betting on One,” a thinking man’s song, a lyrical tour de force, a summarization of politics, and a caution toward the future. “Just listen to the politician wishing his position wasn’t missing everything his heart would like to say. And the constant in the constitution is that there can’t be one solution, it’d be so far from the truth that we would hate it anyway. Opinions are immunity to being told you’re wrong; paper, rock, and scissors they all have their pros and cons. And all of us we will endure, just like we always have. But you just can’t be too sure how long this will last. Cause we control the chaos, in the back of our minds our problems seem so small. But they grow on us like gravity. But gravity still makes us fall.”

The only problem with the album is there’s little originality; it’s been done. That said; Relient K does it better, with construction of songs and substance of messages conveyed. Overall, a stellar rock album that fulfills with its well thought-out finality.