Some Great Hark Rock!
Posted September 26, 2009
By JJFrancesco_NRT, Staff Reviewer
The Letter Black is one of the newest to the Tooth and Nail roster, and one of the bands opening for Skillet on their tour, The Awake and Alive Tour, this fall.
If this 6-song EP is any indication of what is to come with their full length release, we're in for a real treat.
Obviously, comparisons to other female-fronted rock bands like Flyleaf and Fireflight are inevitable. However, I feel the comparisons baseless as there are plenty of male lead singers, why not more than a few female lead singers?
The best songs on the EP are arguably the ones that most people who have heard of the band know of, "Hanging On By a Thread" and "Best of Me."
The latter is the only slower song all the way through and is a song that is so catchy that it's easy to see it succeeding on the radio. It may seem out of place being the only slow song in a hard rock album, but it's good enough to make itself worth a place on the EP.
The former is not the version heard on various websites in recent months, but a newer re-recorded version. The guest vocals from Trevor McNevan of TFK are replaced with the band's official backup singer Mark Anthony, who is also the husband of the lead singer, Sarah Anthony. The vocals on this version, IMO, are slightly less enjoyable than on the Demo version, but I enjoyed them music on the new version much more. Either way, it's a great rock song.
Opening track, "Moving On," while likely not the greatest of openers, is still a hard hitting and enjoyable rock song.
"Away From Me" is the only song on the album to feature a scream, and even it has only 1 and it isn't too bad. The song itself is a heavy hitter and one of the harder songs of this EP.
"Collapse" and "Perfect" have been said to be marred by the lead singer overextending her vocal capabilities, and while I agree to a point, I don't feel the songs are ruined. Quite the contrary, "Perfect" is one of the album's best songs, sporting an intense and catchy chorus, and definitely sending the album with a bang.
The lyrical content is not particularly original(boasting themes of forgiveness(Moving On)and the need for Christ(Hanging On By A Thread, Collapse). But it is a clean alternative to the garbage dominating a majority of the secular mainstream.
Ultimately, this EP is worth the 4-5 bucks it cost. All 6 songs are great and while it probably won't be the kind of stellar debut that will launch The Letter Black to the tops of radio charts, it is a great start to a band who will hopefully improve even more and be around for a long time. View All Music And Book Reviews By JJFrancesco_NRT | View JJFrancesco_NRT's Profile
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