A Great CD, Just Not Jaw-Droppingly Phenomenal Posted July 10, 2008 By ringbearer3,
Superchick's album "Rock What You Got" exceeded my expectations (which were pretty high), but not by a lot. The band called the new album "rock-o-tronic" and "progressive", and I could tell that the album was heavily influenced by the techno sound. That's neither a good thing nor a bad thing, but it tends to lean towards the latter on some tracks.
One of the (few) flaws of the album I observed is the vocals. They sound like they were carried over from one song into the next, and didn't have much diversity. Another was the fact that for an album titled "Rock What You Got," the rock wasn't as hard as the stuff from Beauty 1.1 Other than that, the album is a solid one that Superchick fans and non-fans alike will enjoy.
The album's beginner, the title track, is one of the best songs on the album. I haven't gotten tired of listening to it yet. The best part of it is near the end when the chorus is backed by high-school-game sounding drums. However, it has a few flaws that don't really take much away from the song when it is taken at face value. The first lines, "This one's for the beaten-down", too quickly reminded me of the opening track to the band's best work, Beauty From Pain 1.1, Anthem, which opened with "Here's to the ones who don't give up." Also, the lyrical content seems to be recycled from many of their other songs about self-value and empowerment. But it is the second best song on the album
The "prelude" to Alive was, in my opinion, a really bad idea. While it must have been a neat idea in its planning stages, the Frankenstein audio clip (from IT'S ALIVE! to IT'S FREE! RUN!) didn't really add anything to the song, and I don't believe it was nessecary at all. The track itself is great, like most Superchick songs, but it had too many electronic-techno elements for its rock sound to really shine through. But it's good. Very good.
Hey Hey is another great song. My only problem with it was the music, which didn't seem to fit the lyrics except for in the chorus.
"Hold" is a powerful, touching rock ballad, and a highlihgt of the album, despite the lyrics being a tad bit unoriginal.
Breathe was OK. I guess I'm kind of partial to faster songs, even ones like "Crawl." The sound kind of reminded me personally of "Hide and Seek" by Imogen Heap (the song made popular by the Dear Sister SNL skit).
Now to "So Beautiful". The song is my least favorite, and not because I'm a guy. Heck, I love songs like "Anthem" and "Courage." But the musical composition was very weak and too techno-y, and the left a lot to be desired. Not to mention the fact that their "girl power" songs are getting way too generic and similar. I mean, really, just consider the fact that both this song and Anthem have the theme of "we are ".
Cross The Line. Now here's a completely rock-based song that is the standout of the entire album. It's no wonder that they named their tour after this song. This is officially my favorite Superchick song of all time. The lyrics, while conveying the same message as some of the other songs, do so in a very effective and original way. For some reason, I just can't get enough of the lines "everybody dies, but not everyone lives".
One More is another song that I thought was good, but the chorus is repetitive and the overall song is forgettable.
Crawl (Carry Me Through) was the "Beauty From Pain" of this album, and it really borrows heavily from the latter. But it is still very good, and the third highlight of the album. I could picture Hillsong United or UK performing with only minor changes to the song.
"Stand in the Rain" was one of the absolute best songs on "Beauty From Pain", and the Symphonic Mix is different enough from it to be considered a remix, but not exactly enough to be worthy of a "Regeneration" kind of album.
"Dave Ghazarian: Guitar Hero" was pretty random, and though it was totally cool and sick, it feels like a way to make the album longer more than anything.
Overall, this album was Superchick's second best, but not BFP1.1 quality. I recommend it and am definitely buying it when it comes out.
