Review Summary: Although it has very many post-grunge elements to it, Candlebox is also an incredible hard rock album. Like many post-grunge bands of its time, it has much more to offer than the post-grunge bands of today.
Most people tend to forget about this album's success in the early part of the 90's. It was part of the whole initial post-grunge wave(and was arguably the first band to take part in it). Candlebox sold over 4 million units in the US, about as much as Alice in Chain's Dirt, yet the latter tends to get talked about much more. Most people will probably remember the name Candlebox if you bring it up, and will probably recognize the song Far Behind.
Maybe the song You if they were listening to rock radio at the time. Otherwise they mine as well be forgotten about.
I expected this to be reminiscent of most of the mediocre post-grunge bands when I got it. I loved the song Far Behind after rediscovering it since my youth, and so decided to pick up the album. It didn't take long for the album to grow on me. This is an incredible piece of work, and I would consider it
at the very least on par with the grunge scene people claim it ripped off of, and grunge is my favorite type of music. These guys aren't Creed or Nickelback, they clearly care about their music more than their fame.
The sound of the album can be described as simple hard rock. The majority of the song's on the album feature a heavily distorted guitar, over-the-top vocals, and a fast paced rhythm section. Well, that isn't entirely true. Like many post-grunge acts, these guys follow the quiet verse/loud chorus formula a lot. There's more than one exception to that, however, so don't let that turn you off. My favorite track from the album,
Arrow, stays hard and heavy throughout, and singer Kevin Martin carries the song with catchy and pleasing vocals.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have some fairly soft songs. Most notable is the closing track,
He Calls Home, which I don't think contains a second of distortion. It isn't my favorite on the album, and I would've preferred the preceding track,
Cover Me as the album closer. Candlebox are better at the heavier tracks for sure. Still, it's good enough for what it does. Other slower-paced songs include the bluesy track,
Rain, which showcases guitarist Peter Klett's musicianship all over the place. Rain is the most experimental track on the album, and also the longest. It is a very good song, but I have to admit it does have the problem of losing my interest as it drags on to the seven minute mark.
But don't worry, there is a much more positive side to this album as well. Besides
Arrow, the song
No Sense is another one of my favorites. Starting off with one of the coolest clean guitar riffs I've ever heard, it was able to immediately hook me. Kevin's vocals are at their prime in this track, and Peter Klett shows off with a reasonable long blues solo in the middle of the song.
Other good tracks are the three main singles from the track,
Far Behind,
You, and
Cover Me. Far Behind, while not my favorite, definitely showcases how to write a 'perfect' rock song. Most of you have probably heard it, so I won't spend too much time describing it.
You is another outstanding song, possibly more so than Far Behind. One of the heaviest and fastest tracks on the album,
You carries your interest easily throughout the entire song. By the time the outro comes, the song is in full energy mode. It also boasts, in my opinion, the strongest set of lyrics on the album. Finally we get to
Cover Me, which although seems to follow the pattern exactly for a typical hard rock ballad, it impresses me a lot. Kevin's vocals are as catchy as they come on this song, and it never gets tiring to listen to. The lyrics are pretty cliche, but I love the music side of it. It opens with some acoustic guitars strumming a typical chord progression, and then like many other songs on the album explodes into a heavy chorus. All three of the main singles are amazingly well written and remain some of my favorite songs.
There was a fourth single as well, but it had little to no success. Despite that, the song
Change is probably my second favorite song next to
Arrow. I lied when I said
Cover Me contained the catchiest vocals, because this song definitely does. The song starts off kind of slow, but I was completely blown away by how awesome the first chorus sounded. After a second verse/chorus repetition we get one of Klett's best guitar solos on the whole album. This is the second longest song on the album, about 45 seconds shorter than
Rain, but this one is definitely better at keeping your interest. Killer song.
So yes, while Candlebox is clearly a post-grunge album and contains those elements, it is also an excellent hard rock album. Classical rock influences can be heard everywhere on here, from the guitar solos to the bluesy riffs throughout. Like many other popular post-grunge artists from this era that achieved fame(Live, Collective Soul, Bush, Silverchair) these guys aren't your run-of-the-mill Pearl Jam rip-offs like so many later post-grunge acts would become. They use influences from the Seattle scene effectively, and don't turn themselves into copy-cats. This album is a must-have.
Individual Track Rankings:
1. Don't You - 7.5/10
2. Change - 9.5/19
3. You - 9/10
4. No Sense - 9/10
5. Far Behind - 9/10
6. Blossom - 7.5/10
7. Arrow - 10/10
8. Rain - 7/10
9. Mother's Dream - 7.5/10
10. Cover Me - 8.5/10
11. He Calls Home - 7/10
Personnel
Kevin Martin: Vocals
Peter Klett: Guitar
Bardi Martin: Bass
Scott Mercado: Drums
