Review Summary: Even though the only radio hit was "100 Years" Five For Fighting's third album proves that there are many more good quality tracks to be had outside of the strong lead single.
As I listen through “The Battle for Everything” once again, I have this interesting feeling that I don’t often get while listening to an artist. Usually it only comes around when I listen through Deftones’ “Diamond Eyes” album, or “August and Everything After” by Counting Crows. It is a feeling that I can’t necessarily describe, but I know what causes it. I believe what causes it is when I hear music with a strong sense of raw, genuine emotion. It’s easily one of the best things I can say for Five For Fighting’s third album, and it is found everywhere, throughout every track on the album. It’s present in Ondrasik’s vocals, and it’s also very present in the very well composed instrumentals throughout this album. While the album may have a few faults, it is undeniably something I wouldn’t hesitate to describe as beautiful, in emotion and sound.
I think most people are familiar with the lead single from the album “100 Years.” It got a pretty decent amount of radio attention, and for good reason, as it is a standout of the album, where Ondrasik’s soaring falsetto and piano harmonies carry the majority of the track. It’s a very intimate track regarding the loss of innocence and it is easily the best on the album, a great choice for a lead single. Additionally, I feel like the moments on the album where it succeeds most are the more intimate tracks. “100 Years,” “Maybe I,” and “Dying” are probably three of my favorite tracks on the album, as they are more downbeat and just feel altogether more focused and well put-together tracks. The other tracks aren’t necessarily bad, but I don’t feel like they measure up to these three in terms of quality. A few that come close, though, are “NYC Weather Report,” “Devil in the Wishing Well,” and “If God Made You.” They all have really enjoyable choruses and some really interesting guitar melodies, and the lyrics are not lackluster or meaningless, which is great. These six tracks are the ones I really feel like I can come back and can listen to knowing I’ll always enjoy them.
The main problems I have with the remaining tracks are regarding the vocals for the most part, and some uncreative writing. In the more upbeat tracks like Angels & Girlfriends, which is the only track I strongly dislike on the album due to its atrocious tone and lyrics, Ondrasik’s vocal style doesn’t perform well in the song, and it just doesn’t sound good. I think another big issue is that, of the last six songs on the album, only one of them is really outstanding, which is Maybe I, so the album structure itself could have been better balanced to attribute for the stronger tracks. Nobody has potential to be a great track, but Ondrasik made some questionable vocal decisions regarding spoken word in the middle of the song which is a bit off-putting. Everything else isn’t necessarily bad, they just don’t hold the listener’s attention like the first half of the album does. They do have their moments that impress, but it isn’t consistent enough to keep the attention high.
Regardless of the shortcomings of the album, I do believe that it is collectively worth a listen, and is still a very solid soft rock release, with enough beauty to greatly outweigh where the album falters.
